[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_row padding_top_2=”0px” _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_post_title author=”off” date=”off” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/ifMRfF7SjAs” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ custom_margin=”57px||16px”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_testimonial _builder_version=”3.21″ body_font=”||||||||” body_text_color=”#179e75″ custom_padding=”||0px”]<\/p>\n
“When I leave Dawson City, as I drive out, I feel like I\u2019m a flower that opens, and it allows me to be free and whoever I want to be, I can be, because there\u2019s no expectations from anybody. And who I am is Jackie Olson.”<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n Into her early twenties, Olson had no intentions of becoming an artist. She had enrolled in a two-year arts administration foundations program which brought her to Victoria, B.C., to study at Camosun College: \u201cI can\u2019t really do my job unless I have a better understanding of art,\u201d she\u2019d thought at the time.<\/p>\n After graduation, she worked in arts administration for two years. She actively promoted, developed and exhibited First Nations artists and their works on the job.<\/p>\n Soon though, Olson realized she wanted to become an artist herself. She acted on her desire and pivoted to the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD), emerging with a bachelor\u2019s degree by her mid-twenties.\u00a0<\/p>\n Three decades since she went down this path, Olson intends to return to ACAD for a master\u2019s degree: \u201cI tell my daughters when they go to university, I\u2019m going to go to university as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The alternative would be to stay in Dawson City, the second-largest municipality in Yukon. Its residents are very tight-knit, Olson says of the local First Nation population.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/ypd3ve-RVmI” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ custom_margin=”81px||”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_testimonial _builder_version=”3.21″ body_font=”||||||||” body_text_color=”#179e75″ custom_padding=”||2px”]<\/p>\n “Some people are naturals, and others can learn that \u2013 to be able to create your own individual works. And that\u2019s the beauty of art: is that you\u2019re really encouraged to find your own style, and not recreate somebody else\u2019s work.”<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n In Olson\u2019s experience, there are artists who don\u2019t pursue formal training in their art. She calls them \u201ccloset artists\u201d \u2013 people who tinker in the craft, play around, participate in workshops at festivals like at Moosehide Gathering, and draw inspiration from informal encounters.<\/p>\n At the same time, there are certain technical and theoretical aspects that only an arts school can provide. Learning how to draw the human form, capturing movement, composition and placement are fundamental learnings that, according to Olson, come into play each time art is created.<\/p>\n She insists art is accessible enough to teach across cultures, whether you\u2019re Indigenous or not.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/90VzF9BLbDA” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ custom_padding=”49px||”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_testimonial _builder_version=”3.21″ body_font=”||||||||” body_text_color=”#179e75″ custom_padding=”||2px”]<\/p>\n “For me my artwork is about the process. So it\u2019s exploring different textures and mediums, and always looking for new things to put into my work.”<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n At Moosehide Gathering, where Olson was running an abstract painting workshop, she was happy for the Tr\u2019ond\u00ebk Hw\u00ebch\u2019in First Nation\u2019s 20th anniversary year of their self-government agreement. She is also optimistic that their culture will be sustained into the future.<\/p>\n Outside of the Tr\u2019ond\u00ebk Hw\u00ebch\u2019in people\u2019s biennial gathering, the Moosehide grounds are not normally open for public access.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is our place to kind of chill and relax and rejuvenate ourselves,\u201d Olson says. \u201cIt\u2019s about sharing of cultures \u2013 not only other First Nations cultures, but everyone has culture to share.\u201d<\/p>\n Olson says the community has come a long way in revitalizing their culture. The youth are engaged in learning their ancestral H\u00e4n language, and they are reacquiring the songs and dances that the H\u00e4n language is often set to. More importantly, the collective community is embracing their First Nations identity while continuing to honour their land and lifestyle.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to get our feet grounded; we need to create a solid foundation to move forward,\u201d Olson says. \u201cBut I think we\u2019ve made leaps and bounds as well \u2013\u2013 all those are very important things and we\u2019ve been learning along the way and we\u2019ve invited everybody to learn with us, so it\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″ custom_margin=”73px||”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_testimonial _builder_version=”3.21″ body_font=”||||||||” body_text_color=”#179e75″ custom_padding=”||1px”]<\/p>\n “We do a lot of teaching with traditional arts, like beadwork, carving, drum-making, learning how to tan skins. All that stuff is as important as learning how to paint or express yourself through film or video or pictures, or anything like that\u2026 We don\u2019t need to go back to who we were, because we\u2019ll never get there; we\u2019ve lost that. So, how do we get to a new place, as Indigenous People, and the feeling that it\u2019s ours<\/em>?”<\/strong><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/8vH4gFh8vGU” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″]<\/p>\n It took decades before Indigenous Peoples began entering into this headspace of building trust with non-Indigenous people. The legacy of Indigenous colonization often conjures up stories of abuse in residential school.<\/span><\/p>\n Olson is a second-generation residential school survivor. As she puts it, Indigenous Peoples in her cohort were raised by parents who used dysfunctional childrearing methods, unable to leave the psychologically-damaging impacts of their tormentors from their residential school years. \u201cThe more one gets to understand and learn the effects and impacts of residential school, they will recognize that these patterns are carried forward in generations,\u201d Olson says. \u201cNo-one was immune or spared \u2013 we have all dealt with the impacts and as we begin to realize and understand what our parents and grandparents went through, we start to understand why they did what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n She now understands that as a result, parents didn\u2019t necessarily know how to show their children love and to protect them. Olson does not speak in public about the lasting psychological impact from her upbringing, but she says that she lived a life of mental, spiritual and physical abuse from her mother.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more we talk openly about [residential school], the more we will be able to understand and change bad habits passed on,\u201d Olson says. \u201cI hope I am a break in our family chain and my children will have the skills to be loving, nurturing and empowering parents to their children.\u201d<\/p>\n To break the cycle of the residual effects of settler impact, Olson sees art and culture as stepping in to help with the effort. It starts with empowering the next generation of the \u00ad\u00adFirst Nations community.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-583677638-671847306\/art-as-a-pivot-to-an-optimistic-future-and-reconciliation” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/youtu.be\/WGFF-3YWtjQ” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_video][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.21″] “Art and culture, I think, play a key role in reconciliation. For a lot of people, this is new; they have no idea this has happened in our past. For me, I started researching it when I was going to art school, because we had bill C-31 [that] came through during that time, and all of a sudden I was considered an Indian, and I had no idea what that meant: you know, what does that mean, why am I \u201cIndian\u201d all of a sudden \u2013 haven\u2019t I been all along? So I really studied it, and I learned a lot of history. And you can\u2019t find that stuff, it\u2019s not out there in the public to see.”<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.21″] “Dream Catcher” was painted by Jackie Olson in 1996, during a self-questioning, turbulent period in her life. Materials: Acrylic, handmade paper, found objects.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code _builder_version=”3.21″] “Art and culture, I think, play a key role in reconciliation. For a lot of people, this is new; they have no idea this has happened in our past. For me, I started researching it when I was going to art school, because we had bill C-31 (that) came through during that time, and all of a sudden I was considered an Indian, and I had no idea what that meant: you know, what does that mean, why am I \u201cIndian\u201d all of a sudden \u2013 haven\u2019t I been all along? So I really studied it, and I learned a lot of history. And you can\u2019t find that stuff, it\u2019s not out there in the public to see.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n [\/et_pb_testimonial][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_divider _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/artsyfn\/melding-politics-with-first-nations-arts-in-yukon\/” button_text=”Previous: Melding politics with First Nations arts in Yukon” button_alignment=”left” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/artsyfn\/the-road-to-yukon-first-nations-cultural-sovereignty\/” button_text=”Next: The road to Yukon First Nations cultural sovereignty” button_alignment=”right” _builder_version=”3.21″][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" AWAKENING”When I leave Dawson City, as I drive out, I feel like I\u2019m a flower that opens, and it allows me to be free and whoever I want to be, I can be, because there\u2019s no expectations from anybody. And who I am is Jackie Olson.”Into her early twenties, Olson had no intentions of becoming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-113","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nART<\/h3>\n
AESTHETIC<\/h3>\n
ART AS A CANVAS FOR RECONCILIATION<\/h2>\n
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