SFU Collection

Perspective

Indigenous Curriculum Resource Centre Coast Salish Weaving Commission

Commissioned weavings in the Indigenous Curriculum Resource Centre. Installation documentation, W.A.C. Bennett Library, SFU Burnaby, 2023.

Rachel Topham Photography

The Indigenous Curriculum Resource Centre (ICRC) assists the SFU teaching community with Indigenizing and decolonizing their curriculum. Existing as an online resource since 2020, the ICRC will launch in a new physical space in January 2024 on the fourth floor of the WAC Bennett Library on SFU’s Burnaby campus. The ICRC aims to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing into the practices of the institution, and redress historical and current practices that have centered Western learning and caused immense harm to Indigenous peoples.

To assert the importance of Indigenous artwork as a vital form of intergenerational knowledge holding and sharing, SFU Galleries has partnered with SFU Library to commission four Coast Salish weavings—by Chepximiya Siyam Janice George and Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph (Skwxwú7mesh), Debra Sparrow (xʷməθkwəy̓əm), Angela George (Skwxwú7mesh and Səl̓ílwətaɬ), and Atheana Picha (q̓wa:ńƛəń)—to hang in the space and define the ICRC’s new home.  

Historically, euro-colonial understandings of textiles positioned Salish weaving as domestic and decorative objects without considering their status as relational and political actors in complex Coast Salish social networks. For Chepximiya Siyam Janice George and Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph, Salish blankets are “merged objects” that foster rich social connections within, between and beyond Salish communities. In these ways, weaving is an integral practice that records and shares knowledge, and passes this knowledge onto others through visual storytelling. 

Asserting Coast Salish presence in the ICRC through these weavings aims to reconfigure the university library from a space of colonial dispossession into one uplifting and centering Indigenous worldviews.

Alongside the four commissioned weavings, several Coast Salish artworks held in the SFU Art Collection have been hung in the ICRC, including Susan Point’s Circles in Time series, which are drawn from Point’s studies of ancient spindle whorls, as well as screenprints by lessLIE (Penelakut and Esquimalt), Qwul'thilum (Lyackson and Snuneymuxw), and Maynard Johnny Jr.(Kwakwaka’wakw and Coast Salish).

To learn more about the ICRC, its collection focus, and definition of Indigenization, visit https://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/academic-integrity/indigenous-initiatives/icrc.

For more information about SFU’s Reconciliation Report, visit https://www.sfu.ca/aboriginalpeoples/sfu-reconciliation/reconciliation-reports.html.

Artists

Supporters

SFU Library

This project has been made possible through the generous support of the Salish Weave Fund of Christiane and George Smyth.

Additional support was provided by SFU External Relations and SFU Library.

Angela George of Sḵwxwú7mesh Nation and is a graduate of the Masters of Business Administration program at SFU. Her capstone project is titled Weaving Governance-highlighting a Tsleil-Waututh traditional law and governance. She practices traditional Sḵwxwú7mesh weaving, traditional canoe racing, and cultural singing and dancing. George has dedicated her career to the betterment of First Nations peoples and communities, and has a strong understanding of traditional and spiritual teachings, and the impacts of colonization on First Nations communities.

Chepximiya Siyam Janice George of Sḵwxwú7mesh Nation is a hereditary chief, trained museum curator, and educator who graduated from Capilano University and the Institute of American Indian Arts. She co-organized the first Canada Northwest Coast Weavers Gathering, with other Sḵwxwú7mesh Weavers. She explains that this education helped her excel as a teacher adding to her most important traditional teachings.

Skwetsimeltxw Willard “Buddy” Joseph of Sḵwxwú7mesh Nation is the former director of the Sḵwxwú7mesh Housing and Capital Projects and currently consults on capital projects for First Nations communities. Both George and Joseph have numerous ceremonial and cultural responsibilities in their community.

Atheana Picha of q̓wa:ńƛəń First Nation is an interdisciplinary artist, working mostly in 2-dimensional media. She has been undergoing two apprenticeships learning Salish wool weaving with Debra Sparrow (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) since 2019, and learning silver engraving with artist and educator Aaron Nelson-Moody (Sḵwxwú7mesh) since 2018. Picha has studied various art disciplines at Langara College, has mural work throughout the greater Vancouver area, is a two-time recipient of the YVR Art Foundation Emerging Artist Scholarship, and works at various collections. Picha’s art practice is grounded in learning about Salish design through studying old pieces, observing nature, and learning from elders and teachers.

Debra Sparrow was born and raised on the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Indian Reserve and is a self-taught artist, designer, weaver, and jewelry-maker. Sparrow has been weaving for over twenty years and is dedicated to the revival of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm weaving. Through courses taught at Langara College, weavings in the Vancouver International Airport, large murals like her Blanketing the City series, various publications and many other exhibits and contributions, Sparrow states that her hope is to educate others about the beauty and integrity of her peoples’ history through her art practices.