Description
Nk'Mip Chronicles: Art from the Inkameep Day School is a fascinating exhibition catalogue of children's art created at the Inkameep Day School on the Osoyoos First Nation, British Columbia. The unique feature of the catalogue is that the art was created by day students from the First Nation during the years 1931 to 1942 under the supervision of their teacher, Anthony Walsh. The First Nation day school found a supportive teacher in Anthony Walsh. He encouraged the students to keep their language and cultural traditions during a period in history that pushed assimilation of First Nations into Canadian society. Visual art and dramatic plays were encouraged at the school and the outstanding results are found in this book. After several years of cooperative research conducted by the Osoyoos Indian band, the Osoyoos Museum and the University of Victoria, an exhibition of the Inkameep school art took place as part of the 2003 Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition, Drawing the World. A special section, Nk'Mip Chronicles, was devoted to the First Nation's student artwork from Osoyoos. The book describes the efforts of the First Nation to control its education and how the band worked to provide their elementary students with quality education in the community. The artwork created by the students is divided into themes such as Daily Life; Ancestors, Holy Days and Other Peoples; Animals; Traditions; Francis Baptiste; Plays and Legends; and the Opening of Thunderbird Park. Each of the drawings, pencil sketches, linoleum prints, plaster casts, murals, and oil paintings contain the artist's name, title, media, and size of the original piece. The images reflect local community life, Disney images, Plains Indians, and the Southwest. The essay by Andrea Walsh pays tribute to the educator as well as the work of the remarkable student artists. She suggests that these images are probably one of the largest collections of First Nations children's art from the Canadian inter-war period surviving. This book records the benefits of art teaching in the school system. The book includes a historical timeline of Osoyoos Indian Band, and historical photographs of the Inkameep Day school students and their teacher. A valuable documentation of the importance of art education and First Nations.