‘murmur’, Tanya Lukin Linklater; photo credit J Proctor and Marc Chalifoux

Tanya Lukin Linklater originates from the Native Villages of Port Lions and Afognak in the Kodiak archipelago of southwestern Alaska.  Based in Northern Ontario, she is a practicing performance artist, choreographer and writer. In 2010 she performed a site specific work at “Mapping Resistances” curated by Wanda Nanibush in response to the 20th anniversary of the Oka resistance; she also performed on frozen Lake Nipissing, in a train container, and railway station, and presented a new work at the 6th Annual Aboriginal Choreographers Workshop. Her performances in Canada and U.S. occur in reflecting pools, university campuses, Native villages, galleries and festivals. Tanya’s artistic practice centers often on memory and she experiments with the relationship between the body, sound, song and narrative.  In September, she presented a new experimental work “aiya!” for Native Women in the Arts’ Catalyst Café curated by Wanda Nanabush.  “aiya!” is a sound performance utilizing deconstructed Alutiiq language, experimental song and guttural sounds.

Tanya studied at Stanford University (BA Honors) where she was awarded the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship and the Louis Sudler Prize in the Creative and Performing Arts. In 2010 she was awarded the Chalmers Professional Development Grant by Ontario Arts Council. Her additional training includes dance at the Banff Centre of the Arts, Mile Zero Dance (Edmonton) and the centre for Indigenous Theatre (Toronto).  She received her masters in Education in 2004 from the University of Alberta.

Simon Laroche, Etienne Grenier and David Lemieux. 2008

Robin Brass.2008

Robin Brass.2008

Terrance Houle. 2008

Terrance Houle. 2008

Rebecca Belmore, Temperance. 2004

Rebecca Belmore is an Anishnabe artist who lives and works in Vancouver B.C.   Belmore did a residency with Tribe which finished with a new installation.  Her installations/performances are about her Native heritage and challenge the notions and constraints of Eurocentric definitions of art and society.  Her work has been presented in Museums, galleries and storefronts around the world.

Rebecca’s residency produced a workshop of some new ideas that she will develop further.  Belmore will use her ideas from   the residency with Tribe to develop her exhibition to represent Canada at Venice Biennale.

A New Performance Series by Guillermo Gomez-Pena and James Luna

Two extreme performance artists and shamans decide to become lounge entertainers and share their bizarre performance art with new audiences in an attempt to jumpstart a new religion for cultural outsiders.  Master artists James Luna and Guillermo Gomez -Pena will challenge and inspire their audiences with an evening of performance art and commentary that turns poignant, hilarious, thought provoking and outrageous.

James Luna & Guillermo Gomez-Pena, La Nostalgia Remix. 2011

Naufus Ramirez-Figuero,  Nu Muxum, Nu Nim-Mam / My Navel, My Great-Grandfather. 2006

Nu Muxux, Nu Nim-Mam / My Navel, My Great -Grandfather is a process-based performance inspired by stories of the artist’s great-grandfather, Simeon de la Cruz, who was a ceremonial dancer and active figure in the Quiche and Ladino community of Joyabaj, Guatemala.

The performance will be enacted outdoors, where Ramirez-Figueroa will draw out a navel in the earth.  Through this process, Ramirez-Figueroa will actively meditate on the systems of meaning embedded in Maya-Quiche dance-drama and utilize its symbolic structure to reconsider mestizaje (half-breedness), cultural identity, power and history.

Biography:  Since 1998 Naufus Ramirez-Figueroa has actively participated in  Vancouver’s art scene with visceral and playful installations and performances.  Ramirez-Figueroa grew up in Guatemala City during the country’s most violent years of conflict.  His early experiences of militarism are conflated with larger dialogue related to ethics and interpersonal relations in his work.  Ramirez-Figueroa’s work addresses subjects such as colonialism, folkloric culture, familial history, socio-political forms of violence, experiences of the Diaspora and the effects of globalization.

This spring, OPTICA begins a series of exhibitions dealing with the gallery’s history by broaching the culture of artist groups and art centres. This project, curated by Lori Blondeau, will present a selection of archival documents (videos and photographs) relating the history of TRIBE, A Center for Evolving Aboriginal Media, Visual and Performing Arts, as well as a performance by Cecile Brass. Since its inception, the artist collective has publicly raised highly relevant questions of identity, territory, and politics regarding the status of native peoples and First Nations’ place in our history.

A womb reconstructed on a large scale provides the foundation for a retelling of a personal narrative about the artist, the birth of her three sons, her culture, her family and her community. The work incorporates theatrical and audio art elements into the creation of a performance that, on the surface, tells the story of the birth of a child, but really touches upon universal and shared experiences within our communities.

In Mary Anne Barkhouse’s Boreal Baroque, the work’s setting is inspired by the palatial grounds at Versailles where the wild is juxtaposed with the wildly opulent.

Boreal Baroque is a touring exhibition featuring the work of nationally acclaimed artist Mary Anne Barkhouse. The exhibition incorporates exquisite carvings of all kinds of Boreal animals, including the rabbit, owl, coyote, and beaver, and juxtaposes them against elegant, hand-made Baroque-style furniture. It is a playful yet haunting display of Barkhouse’s belief in the persistent power of nature and animals in our daily lives and consciousness.

The exhibition conjures wild animals’ survival, adaptation, and evolution into the 9th, 20th, and 21st centuries, mixing what the artist calls “the wild” with “the wildly opulent.” Curator Linda Jansma describes Boreal Baroque as optimistic “despite the grim news of the world’s imminent demise,” as the animals have “evicted humans from their ‘habitat’ and converse on the chaise longue and confidante sofas of a Louis XIV setting.” Indeed, the exhibition asks that we see the inhabitants of the Boreal Forest not as resources for our own use, but as animals “assured of their rightful place in the palace.”

Boreal Baroque is organized and circulated by the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, and curated by Linda Jansma. The exhibition’s presentation at the Mendel Art Gallery is its only stop in Western Canada.

Barkhouse belongs to the Nimpkish band, Kwakiuti First Nations and currently lives in the Haliburton Highlands.  Her sculptural work examines environmental concerns and indigenous culture through the use of animal imagery.  Wolves, ravens, moose and beaver are juxtaposed against a diversity of background situations.  Mary Anne was present for this opening and gave a public lecture.

This workshop is open to anyone interested in learning how to tan a hide. It takes roughly 5 days to complete this process and you will be guided through it step by step.  The cost is $100 and this includes the cost of the hide as well as your food for 5 days.  Bring camping hear as there are places to camp bearby and food will be provided for you.  The workshop runs from 9am-9pm daily from the 5^th to the 9^th.  Come and enjoy the land and the fruits of your effort!

Rebecca Belmore,  The Indian Factory, 2000

Rebecca Belmore opened her performance installation The Indian Factory at AKA Gallery on May 25, 2000.  Belmore      created a site-specific installation that dealt with the recent Native men whose lifeless bodies were found on the outskirts of  Saskatoon by the power plant.  Belmore did one hour long performance and during this time also created an installation.  This installation was very intense to watch as it dealt with such a sensitive issue that had still not been resolved in the city of Saskatoon at that time.  During the performance Belmore brought the audience to tears.

James Luna, The Chapel of the Sacred Colors, 2000

James Luna’s installation was installed at the Snelgrove Gallery and opened on May 26, 2000.  Luna’s newest installation work, “THE CHAPEL OF THE SACRED COLORS” premiered at the festival. The centerpiece of the chapel is Luna’s photographic work “THE SACRED COLORS” which speaks to traditional Native concept of cultural origins and color designation.  The sacred colors are red, yellow, black and white lining the walls of the space and objects set brought images of the Stations of the Cross to mind.  Each of the objects were parodies of Native regalia and pop culture icons.  The installation had an audio recording, which invited the viwers to sit and mediate in the brightly colored space.