KC Adams, Jaime Black, Lita Fontaine and Niki Little - SHARDS: Contemporary artists in conversation with the ceramics of our forbearers

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SHARDS invitation image

Image stills provided from video by Scott Knudson of Lakeland Public Television.

Opening reception: Thursday, September 14, 4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Panel discussion with SHARDS curator and artists: TBAIn partnership with the Manitoba Craft Council,

SHARDS: KC Adams, Jaime Black, Lita Fontaine and Niki Little Curated by Jenny Western and organized by the Manitoba Craft Council.

During the opening of Shards, artists Jaime Black and KC Adams share a moving and powerful performance. Bruce Hanks of the University of Winnipeg's Centre for Academic Technologies recorded their performance and it is now available for viewing here.

SHARDS

Curated by Jenny Western, SHARDS features the work of four Indigenous female artists – KC Adams, Jaime Black, Lita Fontaine and Niki Little – in conversation with the 2000+ years old archaeological ceramic shards collections of the Manitoba Museum and the University of Winnipeg. SHARDS incorporates both new and old ceramics as well as artworks created in response to the shards and reflective of our shared past, present, and future as stewards of this territory.

Indigenous pottery shards uncovered by archeologists suggest that ceramic craft and artistry have been practiced in the region currently known as Manitoba for well over 2,000 years. These ceramic pots are believed to have been made as cooking vessels, formed from the clay left here by the prehistoric Lake Agassiz and fired with wood from the area’s boreal forest. Scholars believe that the creators of these pots were women, most likely mothers feeding and caring for their families through their act of ceramic creation. Although their names are unknown, there is a kinship among the pots' original makers and the four artists who make up the SHARDS exhibition; they are connected as creators, as women, and as inhabitants of this land.

Image stills provided from video by Scott Knudson of Lakeland Public Television.