Studio Georgeville teams up with Eeyou artists and artisans to promote Cree traditions

n 2010, Louise Abbott and Niels Jensen published Eeyou Istchee: Land of the Cree. The 252-page photo essay, produced with the help of the Cree Outfitting and Tourism Assocation (COTA), focused on life in the bush, living off the land and imparting Cree cultural values to both younger generations and non-Indigenous Canadians.

This vision of preservation and cultural education motivated Abbott and Jensen to stage an Aboriginal arts festival over the Canada Day weekend in Georgeville, an idyllic community on the shores of Lac Memphremagog in Quebec’s Eastern Townships. Organized in collaboration with COTA, the Cree Nation Arts and Crafts Association (CNACA) and Studio Georgeville, it featured a two-day film festival, craft demonstrations, and kicked off a month-long Aboriginal women’s art exhibition.

“We thought it was important to respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call to action in the domain of culture,” said Abbott, who founded Studio Georgeville with her husband Jensen and other members of the Eastern Townships art community in 2008.

“We wanted to bring the work of Aboriginal artists and artisans to a non-Native audience and promote an understanding of Aboriginal life and culture. At the same time, we wanted to give Aboriginal artists and artisans the opportunity to learn more about life and culture here in the Eastern Townships.”

The festival began with a traditional opening ceremony performed by Cree Elder and activist Dianne Ottereyes Reid. The art exhibition featured bark baskets, moose hide, sealskin gloves and other traditional artwork produced by Eeyou Istchee’s Ruby Moar and Natasia and Saige Mukash.

When residents of Georgeville and the surrounding area arrived to celebrate Canada Day weekend in the local public park they were greeted by two large teepees where Oujé-Bougoumou’s David, Anna and Harold Bosum were giving Cree craft demonstrations.

In one teepee, Anna Bosum taught visitors how to make bannock on a stick and smoked a moose hide while her husband David carved canoe paddles with a crooked knife. In the other, locals chatted with COTA’s Victoria Crowe and Robin McGinley about new opportunities for Cree Tourism in Oujé at Nuuhchimi Wiinuu and the Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute as Harold Bosum put together tamarack decoys.

“We’re used to setting up a booth at trade shows in urban centres but we’ve never offered on-site demonstrations before,” said McGinley, COTA’s executive director. “We saw it as a way of reaching visitors on a much more
personal level.

Abbott says that she and her husband plan to continue to showcase Cree arts and crafts at Studio Georgeville. They hope to obtain more items from CNACA to display at their various exhibitions throughout the year. They also hope to continue to collaborate with COTA on more tourism-related projects.

“Our ultimate goal is to help educate Canadians about Indigenous peoples and their cultural traditions,” she concluded. “And in doing so to help Indigenous peoples, in particular the Cree of Eeyou Istchee to retain those traditions.”