Candace Jack, of the Westbank First Nations, will be performing at Grizzli Winery, June 24.
Image Credit: Grizzli Winery
May 29, 2021 - 10:55 AM
Grizzli Winery is celebrating the heritage, cultures and achievements of the Okanagan’s Indigenous peoples with a summer art exhibition honouring National Indigenous Month.
Syilx Okanagan artists David Wilson Sookinakin and Coralee Miller will showcase their work in the exhibition Tmixw- That Which Gives Life. This exhibition is open June 2 to Aug. 31 with a celebration scheduled for Thursday, June 24 from 5 to 7 p.m, according to a news release issued by the winery.
The event includes an opportunity to meet and greet the artists as well as watch a special dance performance by Candace Jack in the representation of Westbank First Nations. Nomadic Bannock Food truck will be serving up their famous bannock and creative comfort food.
“Tmixw” is the nsyilxcen word that most closely translates as “ecology” and means “that which gives us life.” Tmixw includes everything that is alive: the land, water, insects, people, animals, and plants.
Wilson is Syilx, born in the Vernon area and a member of the Okanagan Indian Band. As a young boy, he discovered Interior Salish pictographs and with formal studies of Coast Salish, Haida and Plains First Nation artform, he integrates images of these traditional pictographs into his work, according to the winery.
Wilson works with various surfaces and mediums: canoes, drums, canvas, and wood. He paints vibrant acrylic with traditional S and U form, ovoids, dots, unique stylized prong within traditional circles. Wilson’s work is published and exhibited in various galleries and public spaces throughout the Okanagan Valley and the Lower Mainland.
Miller is an Okanagan/Syilx artist who portrays cultural pride through her paintings. She gains valuable inspiration from her family, community and oral stories of which are her favorite theme.
She uses art as a way of looking deeper into the syilx cultural values and bridging the moral lessons and values into a modern-day understanding. Coralee focuses on the lessons of humour and the importance of humility through the ever boastful and immortal trickster spirit,senklip (coyote).
Tickets to the event are free and can be reserved online, through Grizzli’s website.
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