“NEC 30th Anniversary Mural – Call for participants!
DATE: Wednesday, December 9
TIME: 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
PLACE: NEC Longhouse (285 East 5th Avenue)
(Vancouver, BC) The Native Education College (NEC) and grunt gallery are partnering with three Vancouver-based First Nations artists: Corey Bulpitt, Sharifah Marsden and Jerry Whitehead to create a large-scale mural that celebrates the NEC’s 30th Anniversary at their location in Mount Pleasant.
We’d like to invite YOU to participate! Especially if you are a youth (age 15-18), NEC student, or any other community member interested in learning about contemporary Indigenous art practices, Indigenous-led education, the history of Mount Pleasant, and working together with your community to plan and paint a mural!
The mural will be created on the east wall of the Tsimilano Building, an administrative building located next door to the Longhouse on East 5th Ave at Main Street, a busy urban area in East Vancouver.
Food and refreshments will be served at the planning meeting.
Participants will continue to meet on a monthly basis to plan the mural. Painting will take place in April 2016 and will be publicly revealed in a big launch party! Stay tuned for the announcement of our next meeting in January.
ARTIST BIO’s:
Corey Bulpitt: aakeit Aaya or “Gifted Carver” Haida of the Naikun Raven clan was born in Prince Rupert BC in 1978. He is a great-great grandson of the famed Charles Edenshaw and Louis Collison. He is an avid painter, jeweler, wood and argillite carver who enjoys exploring different mediums such as spray paint, which he has used to create large-scale paintings involving urban youth in Vancouver. Through his study Corey creates functional pieces that can be used in the traditional context of song and dance.
Sharifah Marsden: Sharifah is an Anishnaabe artist from Mississauga’s of Scugog Island First Nation. Sharifah draws from her Anishnaabe roots and her knowledge of Woodlands art to create works that include everything from acrylic paintings, murals to beadwork and engraving. She graduated from the Native Education College, Northwest Coast Jeweller Arts program under established Haida / Kwakwaka’wakw artist, Dan Wallace. She has been focusing on her own career as an artist, creating jewellery and designing murals for a number of Vancouver’s non-profit organizations.
Jerry Whitehead: Jerry is of Cree heritage from the James Smith First Nation in Saskatchewan. Art has been his lifelong passion. Today Jerry resides in Vancouver and he continues to paint within his community and abroad. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree – Indian Art (S.I.F.C) from the University of Regina in 1983. He then went on to complete a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1987. You may view Jerry’s artistic projects at jerrywhitehead.com and see the various projects he has been involved with.
For more information, please contact Tarah Hogue, Aboriginal Curatorial Resident at grunt gallery:
tarah@grunt.ca
778-235-6928
grunt.ca/mural”
-from grunt gallery media release
Read grunt gallery’s profile on ArtBridges’ Community-Engaged Arts directory and map
