Art
Whitehorse retail shop applauded for paying top dollar for Indigenous art – APTN News
At Douma Alwaird’s retail shop you can find just about anything made by Yukoners – including authentic Indigenous jewelry and accessories.
Indigenous-made items are some of Alwaird’s top selling items, making her one of the go-to northern retailers for northern Indigenous artists, jewelers and crafters.
An avid collector of Indigenous art and jewelry herself, Alwaird is no stranger to the detail and time that artists pour into every piece, and believes they should be paid accordingly.
“I always felt (their work) was underpriced,” the owner of Unorthodox told APTN News.
“I felt like the artists were doing a disservice to themselves in the amount of time, effort and the materials that go into the product.”
For example, a small beaded patch by Selkirk First Nation artist Kayln Baker, who’s based in Whitehorse, costs $900; a delicate pair of caribou earrings by Maria Rose Sikyea of Copper Dene First Nation in the Northwest Territories are $450; an elaborate pink beaded fireweed crown by Rayven Svendsen of Teslin Tlingit Council in the Yukon is a firm $700.
Alwaird says her pricing is not typical.
For many Indigenous artists, an all-too-common reality is their work is under-priced and undervalued – despite the amount of time and effort they dedicate to their craft.
As Alwaird began to work with more artists, she noticed a trend of lower-end prices for higher-end craftsmanship items – something she felt was unfair for the quality of work being sold at her store.
“I not only want to help (the artists that I work with) realize that their work is worth every penny that I price it at,” she said, “but that it’s also OK for them to ask a higher price for their work.”
Randi Nelson of Whitehorse is benefitting from Alwaird’s pricing first-hand.
Since she began selling some of her pieces to Unorthodox, the artist with Métis heritage raised her prices thanks to Alwaird’s encouragement.
“I worked with Douma in figuring out what my pricing would be, which was a learning curve for me,” she said.
“She helped me establish confidence in my pricing and what the fair market pricing for my materials and market share would be, so now I feel like my items are fairly priced.”
Selkirk artist Kayln Baker agrees.
“(Alwaird) has helped me as an artist realize that what I was charging before was underselling myself. It’s helped me bump up my prices to a place where I feel like they’re now fair,” she said.
Baker says Alwaird has also helped her bring in more business by connecting her with customers looking for custom work outside of the shop.
“She’s introduced me to a few clients and I was really grateful for that. I’m currently working on an order for a woman who came to her shop and asked about my stuff. I’m working on jewelry for her bridal party and the bride.”
While she’s not Indigenous herself, Alwaird grew up in northern Canada, where her mother managed a First Nation and Inuit gallery.
Alwaird said she grew up appreciating Indigenous northern art, and though she has no formal art education, she can appreciate the amount of work that goes into each piece.
“I seem to have a knack for just looking at something and knowing what I would pay for it, and I would like to think that I do have a good grip on it now,” she said.
Alwaird admits her items aren’t cheap – some pieces can be priced as high as $2,000 – but for her, they’re worth every penny.
“We put value on weird items, like Louis Vuitton purses and luxury items, so why should there be hesitation when paying a thousand dollars for a beaded purse when you drop a thousand dollars on a mass produced luxury item? I view it as art.”
A trio plays a cover of The Eagles hit Take it Easy as a dozen people settle in for an intimate open mic night inside Derrick McCandless and Dawn Mills’s cozy spot off highways 6 and 68 in Manitoba’s Interlake.
Strings of antique-style light bulbs cast a soft glow over the mandolin, banjo and dobro guitar that hang on a wall behind the band. An array of pottery shaped in-house by Mills dots the shelves behind the audience.
The Eriksdale Music & Custom Frame Shop is full of tchotchkes — like an Elvis Presley Boulevard street sign and vintage Orange Crush ad — that create the rustic country-living vibe the couple dreamt up before buying and transforming the vacant space over the past three years.
“I have met so many people in this community through them that I probably wouldn’t have … because of this hub,” says Mills’s cousin Dana-Jo Burdett.
Mills and McCandless are bringing people together in their rural community in more ways than one — though a return to Mills’s hometown wasn’t always in the cards.
The couple met in Winnipeg in 2011 while McCandless was playing a party at Mills’s cousin’s place. They had plans to settle in the Okanagan in McCandless’s home province of B.C. until he suffered a health scare. After that, they decided to head back to the Prairies.
WATCH | McCandless and Mills channel creative spirit into Eriksdale community:
Dawn Mills and Derrick McCandless host the RogerKimLee Music Festival in the Manitoba Interlake community of Eriksdale. They also turned a long-vacant space in town into a live music venue, instrument repair and sales store, and pottery and framing services shop.
It was the height of the pandemic in fall 2020 when the pair relocated to Eriksdale, about 130 km northwest of Winnipeg. They bought the old Big Al’s shop, once a local sharpening business that was sitting vacant.
“He was an icon in the community. He was a school teacher. He did a drama program here,” said Mills. “He brought a lot to the town.”
The building has become their own personal playground and live-in studio.
“It keeps evolving and we keep changing it and every room has to serve multi-function,” says Mills. “It’s a meeting place.”
While they love the quiet life of their community, they’re also a busy couple.
McCandless is a multi-instrumentalist with a former career in the Armed Forces that took him all over. Now, he’s a shop teacher in Ashern who sells and fixes instruments out of the music shop.
WATCH | McCandless plays an original song:
Derrick McCandless plays one of his original songs on acoustic guitar at the Eriksdale Music & Custom Frame Shop in March 2024.
Mills helped found Stoneware Gallery in 1978 — the longest running pottery collective in Canada. She offers professional framing services and sells pottery creations that she throws in-studio.
They put on open mic nights and host a summer concert series on a stage next door they built together themselves. They’re trying to start up a musicians memorial park in Eriksdale too.
One of their bigger labours of love is in honour of McCandless’s good friends Roger Leonard Young, David Kim Russell and Tony “Leon” — or Lee — Oreniuk. All died within months of each other in 2020-2021.
“That was a heart-wrenching year,” McCandless says.
They channeled their grief into something good for the community and started the RogerKimLee Music Festival.
Friends from Winnipeg and the Interlake helped them put on a weekend of “lovely music, lovely food, lovely companionship” as a sort of heart-felt send off, said Mills.
That weekend it poured rain. Festival-goers ended up in soggy dog piles on the floor of the music shop to dry out while Mills and McCandless cooked them sausages and eggs to warm up.
“It was just a great weekend,” says McCandless. “At the end of that, that Sunday, we just said that’s it, we got to do this.”
Mills says the homey community spirit on display during that inaugural year is what the couple has been trying to “encourage in people getting together” ever since.
The festival has grown to include a makers’ market, car show, kids activities, workshops, camping, beer gardens, good food and live music.
This summer, Manitoba acts The Solutions, Sweet Alibi and The JD Edwards Band are on the lineup Aug. 16-18.
Burdett has been a part of the growth, helping with branding, social media and marketing. McCandless and Mills’s habit of bringing people together has also rubbed off on Burdett.
“There’s more of my people out here than I thought, and I am very grateful for that,” says Burdett.
Their efforts to breathe new artistic life into Eriksdale caught the attention of their local MLA.
“The response from family and friend and community has been outstanding,” Derek Johnston (Interlake-Gimli) said during question period at the Manitoba Legislature in March.
“The RogerKimLee Music Festival believes music to be a powerful force for positive social change.”
Dolly Lindell, who has lived in Eriksdale for about three decades, said the couple is adding something valuable that wasn’t quite there before.
“There’s a lot of people that we didn’t even know had musical talent and aspirations and this has definitely helped bring it out,” Lindell says from the audience as McCandless, Dave Greene and Mark Chuchie wrap their rendition of Take it Easy.
McCandless, 61, said there was a time in his youth where he dreamed of a becoming a folk music star. Now his musical ambitions have changed. He’s focused on using that part of himself to bring people together.
“I think it’s that gift that I was given that that needs to be shared,” he says. “I don’t think I could live without sharing it.”
WATCH | Trio plays song at Eriksdale music shop:
Derrick McCandless, Dave Greene and Mark Chuchie play a cover of The Eagles hit Take it Easy at McCandless and Dawn Mills’s music shop in Eriksdale in March 2024.
- 1 day ago
- News
- Duration 4:42
Joel Jamensky’s sunny disposition explains why the artist with Down syndrome uses the name ‘J-positive’ for his online art business, started with the help of his parents two years ago. “There’s a lot more going on in [Joel’s] art than may be at first glance – just like him,” said his dad, Mark.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]
Made Right Here: Woodworking art CTV News Kitchener
Source link
Social media explodes after Auston Matthews' incredible game-winner goes viral – Toronto Sun
Budget 2024 failed to spark ‘political reboot’ for Liberals, polling suggests – Global News
An extra moon may be orbiting Earth — and scientists think they know exactly where it came from – Livescience.com
Silver investment demand jumped 12% in 2019
12 Bizarre Things People Did Just To Make Social Media Content
Global Media Markets, 2015-2020, 2020-2025F, 2030F – TV and Radio Broadcasting, Film and Music, Information Services, Web Content, Search Portals And Social Media, Print Media, & Cable – GlobeNewswire
-
Business22 hours ago
Honda to build electric vehicles and battery plant in Ontario, sources say – Global News
-
Science22 hours agoWill We Know if TRAPPIST-1e has Life? – Universe Today
-
Health19 hours ago
See how chicken farmers are trying to stop the spread of bird flu – Fox 46 Charlotte
-
Health22 hours ago
Simcoe-Muskoka health unit urges residents to get immunized
-
Investment20 hours ago
Own a cottage or investment property? Here's how to navigate the new capital gains tax changes – The Globe and Mail
-
Science17 hours ago
Osoyoos commuters invited to celebrate Earth Day with the Leg Day challenge – Oliver/Osoyoos News – Castanet.net
-
News18 hours ago
Freeland defends budget measures, as premiers push back on federal involvement – CBC News
-
News21 hours ago
‘A real letdown’: Disabled B.C. man reacts to federal disability benefit – Global News
