As we near the end of summer, we are looking forward to going back to school! This fall, the AGGV will be back in the classroom, once again facilitating our popular half-day workshops led by a local music artist, in partnership with UVic’s Indigenous Education Department!
This year’s workshops will be inspired by Dylan Thomas’s artwork from In the Present Moment: Buddhism, Contemporary Art, and Social Practice Teacher Resource Guide. Dylan Thomas (Qwul’thilum) is a Coast Salish artist and member of the Lyackson First Nation of Valdes Island. Through his paternal and maternal lineage, he has heritage from the Songhees and Squamish nations, and the Snuneymuxw and Sto:lo nations, respectively. Dylan’s work has been deeply influenced by Northwest Coast art, as well as Vajrayana Buddhist mandalas, Celtic knots, Islamic tessellations, and many other ancient geometric art traditions.
A local music artist will engage learners in school workshops with a team of gallery educators, and volunteers from UVIC’s Indigenous Education Department – we are honoured and excited to partner with them again! And why music/sound artists? It’s our way of advocating for the incredible value of this form of creative expression in schools, and in this program’s 5 years, we have not featured this genre.
Workshops are for grades 4 to 12 in SD61, 62 and 63 (Victoria, Sooke, and Saanich, BC) and will be offered Wednesday mornings (approximately running from 9am – noon) October – November 2021. We look forward to being back in the classroom, working and creating together in-person, once again.
