Learn the traditional art of basket weaving with Mi’kmaq artist Ursula Johnson.
You will learn the history of the artform and its connection to Mi’kmaq culture, and receive step by step instruction from an accomplished artist whose approach is both traditional and contemporary.
Please Note: The program costs covers the leaders travel, honorarium, accommodations and meals, plus your accommodations, three meals and three snacks per day and a nominal registration fee. We believe that cross cultural experiences can promote much needed right relations between peoples – and work to ensure we do not exploit Indigenous culture or knowledge. The Tatamagouche Centre does not make a profit from this program.
Program Cost: $480 ($325 tuition+$155 meals/accommodations)
Local Price: $386 (program cost without overnight, without breakfast)
Please register at least 2 weeks in advance to secure your place in this program
Leadership
Ursula Johnson
Ursula Johnson holds a BFA (2006) from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, where she studied photography, drawing and textiles. She also studied Theatre at Cape Breton University. Johnson descends from a long line of Mi’kmaw Artists, including her late Great-Grandmother, Caroline Gould, from whom she learned basket making. In 2010 she curated Klokowej: A 30-Year Retrospective commemorating Gould’s contribution to the evolution of Mi’kmaw basketry.
Ursula Johnson’s approach to basketry is typical of her transformational practice. Rather than simply imitating traditional Mi’kmaw basket forms she uses traditional techniques to build subtly non-functional forms—objects that are clearly traditionally based yet raised to a metaphorical level of signification, as works of art. Several of her performances, including Elmiet (2010) and Basket Weaving (2011) incorporate basketry as a key element.
Judy Googoo
Judy Googoo never visited a hospital while growing up in Baddeck and Wagmatcook. All her medicines were prepared by her mother and grandmother and passed on over time. Judy is an Elder who has been studying and cataloguing medicines from this region infusing her own experiences and practices with traditional knowledge.
Judy is also an artist and makes jewelry which she sells at her log cabin shop on the reserve. She owns a variety of businesses and raises a wide assortment of animals including love birds, turkeys, goats and horses in her home in Wagmatcook.
Judy is also a Program Resource Group (PRG) facilitator at Tatamagouche Centre.