WINNIPEG — Scattered throughout the century-old Manitoba Legislative Building are the works of famed Indigenous artists, including Daphne Odjig and Jackson Beardy.
Some pieces hang in offices, while others are placed for passersby to see.
Now, one room in the historic building is home to a semi-permanent exhibit showcasing more than 20 pieces of Indigenous art.
Having one space that captures the province’s vast collection of contemporary and traditional Indigenous art was something Myrna Driedger envisioned during her years as Speaker. She chose not to seek re-election as a Progressive Conservative legislature member earlier this year.
“It was always at the back of my mind that it was something that I would love to see in the building, so that the building itself becomes a little bit more representative of our history,” Driedger said in an interview on Thursday.
“Manitoba is pretty lucky that we have a building as beautiful as this, and now we have a room that is as inspiring as this.”
Artwork from Beardy, who was Oji-Cree, and Odjig, who was Potawatomi, shares the same walls as pieces from Ojibway artist Jackie Traverse and Inuk artist Marion Tuu’luq in the Golden Boy room, named after the prominent statue perched on the top of the Legislative Building.
The public room was chosen because it is available to everyone and is often used to host events.
“(The works of art) are not stuck in some office somewhere where people can’t enjoy them,” said Driedger.
“To have them on display in one room, it has a bigger impact than if it’s scattered all over and nobody sees them.”
The province has amassed more than 2,800 pieces in the roughly 50 years since it started its art collection. A diverse array of artists and art is represented in the collection, a spokesperson for the province said. This includes portraiture, still life, caribou tuftings, bold abstractions and wildlife studies.
While the province has obtained a considerable amount of Indigenous art, the spokesperson said they do not have a total figure due in part to incomplete documentation and artists’ heritage disclosure.
The province’s art collection is displayed in more than 100 buildings and public spaces across Manitoba.
When it came to deciding which pieces would be included in the exhibit, Driedger turned to Amy Karlinsky, who is the province’s visual arts consultant.
“We researched where were some of what we understood to be significant pieces, where were they in which offices,” said Karlinsky.
“We were looking for what are some of the earliest acquisitions in contemporary Indigenous art. And we balanced that with some of the more recent acquisitions.”
Some of those earlier works, including drawings by Odjig, were purchased by the government in the 1960s and 1970s.
One of the more recent pieces comes from Cree and Métis artist Carly Morrisseau, whose work uses Cree syllabics as a way to revitalize the language.
When asked which artwork resonates most with her, Driedger pointed to a large, colourful painting.
The piece by Traverse called “Council of Women” depicts a circle of women against a vibrant orange background.
“I just love it,” said Driedger, who worked to break down barriers for women in leadership roles during her 25-year career.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 10, 2023.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
