Second Association for Native Development in the Performing and Visual Arts (ANDPVA) Indigenous art market now underway

By Rick Garrick

TORONTO — Whitefish River’s Barb Nahwegahbow has another Association for Native Development in the Performing and Visual Arts (ANDPVA) Indigenous art market now underway on Queen St. E. in Toronto, Ont., until June 30. ANDPVA previously held a pop-up Indigenous art market at the Leslieville neighbourhood location from Nov. 3-Dec. 24.

“It’s a fantastic location — it’s a really trendy neighbourhood,” says Nahwegahbow, curator/coordinator of ANDPVA’s Indigenous art market. “We had the best customers in our store, people from the neighbourhood, a lot of walk-by traffic. They saw the window, which was always a beautiful display of work, and they’d come in. Our store was very attractive and designed to attract customers.”

Nahwegahbow says they had lineups of customers, including some from Sudbury, London, Barrie, and Burlington, outside of the store on every weekend looking to buy work from the artists.

“The oldest artist, Norma Kagesheongai from Sheguindah, is 80-years-old and she does stained glass feathers,” Nahwegahbow says. “The youngest artist, Soul Merasty from Manitoba, was 19-years-old and he does hoodies. He did a beautiful grizzly bear design — half of the grizzly bear’s face was shattered. He talked about that design and he said this side that’s kind of shattered, that’s our families who have been shattered and unhappy and in need of healing and they’ve broken apart. He said the other side is the healthy side and the friends and family that we still have who love and support us.”

Nahwegahbow says the  Indigenous art market features 36 artists, with half of them new to the show and the other half returning artists.

“They’ve been busy working — the artists have been sending me photos of work in progress,” Nahwegahbow says. “All of the artists do magnificent work.”

Nahwegahbow says the artists create a wide range of arts and crafts, including paintings, prints, art cards, moccasins, beadwork, quillwork, contemporary jewellery, stained glass and ribbon skirts.

“It’s kind of a full range,” Nahwegahbow says. “Moccasins and beadwork, they sell out fast.”

Nahwegahbow says the Indigenous art market has also been good for promoting the artists, noting that many of the artists have been contacted by customers to do commissions.

“It’s putting our artists out there,” Nahwegahbow says. “I enjoy working with artists, I always have, supporting them, buying their work, and the holiday market was a good opportunity to support them even more because I knew how much they had been suffering from lack of sales.”

Millie Knapp, executive director at ANDPVA, says the Indigenous art markets are a way for ANDPVA to support Indigenous artists during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They’ve lost ways to make income — a lot of artists travel on the pow wow trail and with pow wows cancelled, they weren’t able to make any income,” Knapp says, noting that the artists received 100 per cent of the sales from their work. “Since COVID-19, ANDPVA has found ways to create paid opportunities for Indigenous artists.”

Knapp says the feedback they received from the artists was that the pop-up Indigenous art market saved their careers.

“They had a really hard time making a living during COVID-19,” Knapp says. “We had another artist say that she had two years of inventory just sitting there from COVID-19 and she sold all of it at ANDPVA’s Indigenous art market.”

Knapp says the Indigenous art markets also provide a space for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to gather together in the Leslieville area.