This week’s Notable blogs focus on cultural heritage.
We begin in British Columbia where the life’s work of a much-loved elder will be remembered through the creation of a nature preserve.
Dr. Mary Thomas had a vision; collaboration amongst people who would value and preserve the gifts of nature. Mary Thomas, a respected Neskonlith Elder, dedicated her life to sharing the knowledge of the earth’s bounty she had learned from her Grandmothers. The Mary Thomas Heritage Sanctuary, once created, will be dedicated to carrying on the legacy of Dr. Mary to advance the cultural values and knowledge of her people through collaboration and exchange.
The Main Street Education Center posted a video about Inuit perspectives on the climate crisis. Who better to speak to the crisis than those most effected?
Melanie Mulhull wrote about a trip to Amantari Island.
We gathered on a beach and Romualdo, accompanied by some of the Q’ero shamans, set about preparing his mesa for a despacho ceremony. This was to be a water ceremony and we would be making offerings to Lake Titicaca as a part of that ceremony. As Romulado set out his power objects, Jorge Luis Delgado spoke to us of water and spirit. He pointed out that water is alive and that whatever is alive can be communicated with. He said that water holds memory, listens, teaches, and shows us the way. “But what is the way?” he asked. “Just flow,” he said, answering his own question.
A couple of blogs discussed the legacy of the artist, Bill Reid, whose work I have always found deeply inspiring:
William (Bill) Ronald Reid, OBC (born Victoria, BC, 12 January 1920; died Vancouver, BC, 13 March 1998) was a Canadian artist whose works included jewelry, sculpture and painting. He was born to an American father of Scottish-German descent and a mother from the Haida (one of the First Nations of the Pacific coast) in Victoria, British Columbia. He developed a keen interest in Haida art while working as a radio announcer in Toronto, where he also studied jewelry making, having first learnt about his heritage from his maternal grandfather, who had himself been trained by Charles Edenshaw, a Haida artist of great renown.
via Bill Reid: Life and Legend « The Main Street Education Centre AGS Blog.
And from the Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Art Studies:
The Bill Reid Centre for Northwest Coast Art Studies is part of the Department of Archaeology and First Nation Studies at Simon Fraser University, although it is physically located in downtown Vancouver. It currently shares space with the Bill Reid Gallery on Hornby St., near SFU’s Harbour Centre Campus. They have a website that looks to be growing fast with some good content – and despite the name of the centre, it is not only about Haida Art, or even just about Art:
As always, I hope you find these posts nourishing and engaging.
Best,
Michael
Dreaming the World 
Great blog! I like how everything is well written. I will be back to check for new posts. Thanks!!