In 2019, the Wilfrid Johns Gallery welcomed our inaugural artist-in-residence, contemporary Upper Tanana visual artist Teresa Vander Meer-Chassé, proud member of the White River First Nation of Beaver Creek, Yukon and Alaska. Teresa inhabited the gallery for one month, transforming the space into an active studio space where students, faculty and the local community were invited to bead as they discussed Indigenous pedagogies.
Before the exhibition, Teresa wrote three questions on a large piece of paper which was hung on one of the gallery walls. Guests and participants were encouraged to respond by writing on the paper. The questions were:
- Is level of education segregating artists into silos: those with a degree and those that are self-taught?
- Is Indigenous pedagogy seen as worthy within or outside of academia? Are Indigenous and western pedagogy cohesive?
- Do institutionally-trained and self-taught artists think about art and their processes differently? (ie. Can they communicate with one another?)
Click through the gallery below to see our documentation of the responses.
All Artwork © Copyright Teresa Vander-Meer Chassé.
Photography by Ingrid Percy © Copyright Ingrid Percy.