The Inkameep Day School Art Collection

Drawings from the Inkameep Day School Collection were on display at the Nk'Mip Cellars Winery as part of the National Aboriginal Day celebrations on June 21, 2004. The exhibition will continue until July 21.

During May and June of 2004, the Nk’mip Chronicles Exhibition travelled to the Alberni Valley Museum.

Dr. Andrea Walsh will present a University of Victoria Centre of Religion and Society Fellowship talk on March 3, 2004, from 4-6 p.m., at the University's Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery. Her paper will discuss several of the pieces on display in the gallery's Inkameep exhibit.

Summer 2004 has been confirmed as the launch period for the Virtual Museum of Canada web site Drawing on Identity: Inkameep Day School Art Collection. Created by UVic Anthropology professor Dr. Andrea Walsh, the online exhibit will feature a rare group of drawings by students of the Inkameep Day School in the South Okanagan during the 1930s and 1940s.

"This is the first website completely dedicated to Native children's art, history and culture. It showcases an unparalleled exhibition of Native children's art creating during the mid-20th century, and will be of interest to a general audience as well as researchers who are looking at the role of children in cultural history." -Andrea Walsh, Visual Anthropologist at the University of Victoria and Lead Researcher for the Inkameep Day School VMC website.

On February 24 and 26, 2004, The Leading Edge: Innovation in BC on the Knowledge Network will feature the CURA Inkameep project. The Knowledge Network spent three days in Osoyoos, BC, in October of 2003 filming work on the Inkameep Day School Art Collection.

After a well-received showing at the Vancouver Art Gallery in the recent Drawing the World exhibition, the Inkameep Day School drawings will be featured in an exhibition entitled Nk’mip Chronicles: Drawings from the Collection of the Osoyoos Museum to be shown at the Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery, Feb. 23 – April 6, 2004.

Victoria's daily newspaper, the Times Colonist, ran a feature story on the CURA Inkameep Day School Project last week. Click here to read the full article.

CBC Radio 3 ran a feature entitled NK'MIP CHRONICLES | DRAWING THEIR WORLD about the CURA Inkameep Day School Project. Note: you will need Flash Player 6 to view the site.

In addition, an interview with Project Director Andrea Walsh, University of Victoria and Osoyoos Band Chief Clarence Louie was featured on CBC Radio One's "Sounds Like Canada" on July 26. Click here for more information.

Vancouver Art Gallery

Thirty-six Inkameep drawings were included in a Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition: Drawing the World, June 28-Sept. 21, 2003. View the original press release from the VAG. (note: link is to a PDF file)

In June 2003 the Inkameep Day School Project received an award from Virtual Museums Canada (VMC) to develop a virtual web site for the Canadian Heritage Information Network.

Ottawa, ON

Co-hosted by the Department for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and the University of Western Ontario.

CURA Representatives Dr. Andrea Walsh and Brenda Baptiste presented a poster focusing on the Nk’Mip Day School Collection Research Project. The presentation united the three principle conference goals by:

1. Discussing Nk’Mip community participation in the research project
2. Discussing the utilization of an empowerment model, rather than one of victimization of aboriginal peoples, as a method for researching past events in contemporary times
3. Demonstrating the benefits of collaborative research and interdisciplinary research and scholarship.

On November 29, 2002, Andrea and Brenda attended an all-day workshop hosted by SSHRC to discuss the development of strategic priorities in the area of Aboriginal research.

Co-hosted by the CURA Program, the University of Victoria Humanities Centre, the Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery and the Royal British Columbia Museum, this public conference brought to light some of the many untold stories of British Columbia.

A total of 11 guest speakers from universities and cultural institutions across Canada provided participants with a glimpse of history by presenting various topics related to the past and present of BC communities. The Inkameep Day School Art Collection Project was featured as part of the conference. Dr. Andrea Walsh presented a paper, “Drawing on Identity: The Inkameep Day School,” which was published in the anthology of conference papers: Untold Stories of British Columbia. Ed. Paul Wood. Humanities Centre, University of Victoria, 2003.