VAST 206: Metis Art + Culture

This online project based course introduces students to BC Métis art forms. The course explores traditional and contemporary forms and processes of working in modules with caribou/moose hair tufting, pine needles, spruce roots and birch bark, tanned, smoked moose/deer hide quillwork, beadwork, and sash/finger weaving. A variety of materials and techniques are used to create small scale functional and aesthetic objects. . The course takes an ethnographic approach within a historical, socio-political and cultural context examining northern BC regional communities in terms of Métis art forms, resource material and techniques used in local material production. It also explores issues of reinterpretation, resources management, sustainability, appropriation and protocol.