Kamloops Art Gallery is thrilled to announce the launch of a suite of elaborate collaborative paintings and a CD of spoken word and original music produced during the past two and a half years within Native Youth Art Workshops (NYAW).

The launch and workshop series wrap-up celebration take place at the Gallery on Saturday, Oct. 24 from 3-5 pm. Admission is free and everyone is invited.

Over 170 native youths from the TNRD participated in more than 30 workshops. As a project of the Kamloops Art Gallery (KAG), the venue was usually a studio beside the giftshop, but workshops were also held in Bonaparte, the Chief Louis Center, and TRU’s Center for Innovation, Culture and Change (CICaC).

Guest Artists of various mediums were invited to each workshop such as Rebecca Belmore, ‘Kootchie’ aka Willard Charlie, performance artists Lori Blondeau and Adrian Stimson aka Belle Sauvage and Buffalo Boy, recording artist Fara Palmer, local hip hop artist/rapper Geo, Vancouver based N’lakapamux contemporary artist Andrew Dexel (Enpaauk), multi media artist Chris Bose, as well as silversmith and carver Barry Wilson.

The recording room - a large washroom in the studio dubbed the ‘Recording Can’, was where all of the original songs, poetry, spoken word, and stories were recorded for the CD, “Never Give Up”. It features original songs from Kyle Edwards (one of them featured on CBC’s Daybreak), Chris Bose, Geo (George Ignace), Fara Palmer, Alias (Torbin Alec), Rob Hall, traditional songs from Dustin Jules, Jenefer and Jalyssa Phair, as well as many others who recorded their poetry and stories with Rob ‘in the Can’. Geo also helped with the mixing of the tracks, and award winning producer, musician John MacArthur Ellis mastered the album from his Nashcroft Manor Studio.

The results were seven large canvases, a 17-track CD and a 20 page booklet.

The workshop series was co-coordinated and facilitated by artists and sisters Meeka and Victoria Morgan, musician Rob Hall and lead artist/initiator/co-ordinator Jayce Salloum. Works from the workshops form elements of the exhibition Jayce Salloum: History of the Present (Selected Works 1985-2009), which shows at KAG from Oct. 25 to Jan. 3, 2010 before travelling across Canada. The opening tour of Salloum’s exhibition will be at 5:30 pm, Opening Reception at 6:30 pm.

The NYAW CD and paintings are presented in the main exhibition space at the Gallery, where the paintings can be viewed from the public courtyard area. The workshops have attracted not only youth but elders and children from across the region. Their many perspectives and influences are reflected in expansive collaborative canvases incorporating intertwining themes, ideas and artistic styles.

The CD is available, along with an accompanying booklet, from The Gallery Store. All of proceeds from CD sales will go to First Nations youth arts programs.

The exhibition is sponsored in Kamloops by Simmons, Black & Emsland Insurance Services. The media sponsor is CBC Radio One.

Submitted