(Photo Credit: Grande Prairie Public School Division)

By Nathaniel Leigh

GPPSD

Grande Prairie Public School Division hosting Indigenous art exhibit

Sep 30, 2024 | 7:00 AM

Grande Prairie Public School Division is hosting an exhibition of Indigenous art pieces as part of their efforts to honour National Truth and Reconciliation Day.

The Rooted Connection Indigenous art exhibit will feature works from six local artists being put on display in eight different GPPSD schools during the school year.

Grande Prairie Public Indigenous Program Coordinator Krista Umble says the students will be able to touch and interact with several of the pieces.

“This is all kind of linking together with talking a little bit about allyship,” Umble says. “And we’re creating space for Indigenous artisans to be able to showcase their work and be able to offer a wide variety of different things for students to see.”

Umble says the art pieces will come in several shapes and sizes.

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“Tools, to fur, to different types of beadworks and moccasins,” she says. “It’s called the Rooted Connections Project and it’s showcasing and recognizing that all of these pieces are tied together and that we’re all connected together.”

She says we are walking a reconciliation journey together.

“I think if we can create space for students to learn and to grow,” she says. “To have all nations of people understand Indigenous culture, I think it’s an important piece of that Reconciliation journey that we’re all travelling on.”

GPPSD will be linking the exhibit with Truth and Reconciliation Day by having the students create a Reconciliation Tree art project inspired by the theme of Rooted Connection.

The exhibit is part of a partnership with the Grande Prairie Art Gallery and is co-curated by GPPSD’s Indigenous Liaison, Loriann Gignac.