Ozhitoon jii Miigiweng provides Indigenous and non-Indigenous emerging artists, professional artists and educators of all Nations an inclusive opportunity to learn how to respectfully incorporate Indigenous perspectives and protocols into their art and education practices.

This workshop will be held in person at Creative Manitoba over two days.

Day 1 – Friday, March 22, 10:30 am – 3:30 pm

Day 2 – Saturday, March 23, 10:30 am – 3:30 pm

Tea , Coffee and Lunch will be available.

Indigenous Knowledge Keepers and artists Albert McLeod (Cree) and Lita Fontaine (Dakota/Anishinaabe), will facilitate in guiding participants through a holistic hands-on experience enhancing the learning of Self and Indigenous Ways of Knowing.

All Nations of educators, students and art enthusiasts who would like to acquire Indigenous knowledge through the making of a Sacred Hoop/Mandala are welcome.

This workshop will be influenced by the making of a Sacred Hoop or mandala. The meaning of the Sacred Hoop is in many ways the same as what is found in various land-based cultures. The word mandala itself simply means “circle” in Sanskrit, symbolizing the universe. As Indigenous people, we believe that the shape represents:

• The circle of life and the path from birth to death
• The unification of people, nature, and the spiritual in a cyclical form
• A way to connect with Creator

While Sacred Hoops and mandalas are used as physical forms of design in many communities, the circular pattern is also essential to ceremonial practices, teachings, and rituals. It is found in many dances, both in individual movements and as a greater movement around a central point- often a fire or important figure. It can be found at the base of a tipi, in dreamcatchers, in the shape of a drum, in the form of hoops, and in the creation of pottery, baskets, beadwork, and the medicine wheel. The making of the Sacred Hoop represents the interwoven threads of creation, our relation to self and community, Grandfather Sun, Grandmother Moon and the wonder of diversity in Mother Earth.

While we focus on the ethos of our circular ways of Indigenous thinking, this workshop will also include:

• Indigenous perspectives and protocols
• Collaboration strategies that promote reconciliation
• Incorporating land-based knowledge into their work
• How to decolonize education and art-based practices

All supplies will be provided. We are asking each participant to bring in something personal to incorporate into their own Sacred Hoop. It can be a photo (no original photos please, copies are fine), ribbons, buttons, natural items, or anything that holds meaning for you.

Space is limited to 15 participants. Registration is open until March 20th, 2024 at 5 pm.

If cost is a barrier please apply to Creative Manitoba’s All Access Inclusion Bursary.

The All Access Inclusion Bursary is designed to help Manitoban artists gain access to Creative Manitoba workshops, programs or coaching sessions. Our goal is to create a space where all artists have the ability to further their knowledge regardless of financial circumstances.

There are a limited number of placements available in Ozhitoon through the AAIB for Creative Manitoba Members. Applications must be submitted one week before the registration deadline.

For more information and to apply to the All Access Inclusion Bursary please follow this link. 

Knowledge Keeper Albert McLeod is a Status Indian with ancestry from Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation and the Metis communities of Cross Lake and Norway House in northern Manitoba. He has over thirty years of experience as a human rights activist and was one of the founders of the 2-Spirited People of Manitoba.

Albert is a commercial art graduate from Assiniboine Community College in Brandon and an experienced artist in beadwork, Indigenous regalia-making, and leather crafts. He was the director of the Manitoba Aboriginal AIDS Task Force from 1991 to 2001. In 2018, Albert received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Winnipeg. Albert was also a member of the sub-working group that produced the MMIWG – 2SLGBTQQIA+ National Action Plan Report in 2020-2021. In 2020, Albert joined Team Thunderhead, the team that recently won the international competition to design the 2SLGBTQI+ National Monument in Ottawa. Albert lives in Winnipeg, where he works as a consultant specializing in Indigenous peoples, 2Spirit re-emergence, cultural reclamation, and cross-cultural training.

Lita Fontaine is of Dakota, Anishinaabe, and Metis descent. Fontaine is a Mother, Sister, Art Educator and Visual Artist. Her mother Rose Anne Fontaine’s band affiliation is Long Plain, her father’s, Sagkeeng First Nation. Fontaine was born in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, and grew up in Winnipeg’s North End. Ever since childhood, Fontaine always enjoyed the act of creation like drawing, building, sewing and collecting recyclables.

During Fontaine’s late twenties, the creative urge to become an artist became quite strong. Being a single mother at the time she decided to return to school and enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s School of Art in the Diploma program where she developed and honed her skills and abilities in drawing and black and white photography. She later pursued higher education at the University of Regina, Visual Arts Faculty where she attained a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) specializing in Inter-media and, as some may know as Mixed-Media.

Lita Fontaine is one of the founding members of the Urban Shaman Contemporary Art Gallery in Winnipeg Manitoba which was established in 1996. This is one of her proudest accomplishments. Her first public solo exhibition was on the opening evening at Urban Shaman in September 1996.

Recently Fontaine has received the University of Manitoba Distinguished Alumni Award 2021, an honoured and humbling moment. She has exhibited her art in several solo and group exhibitions, and her work can be found on murals in Winnipeg and in personal art collections.

Lita Fontaine was employed as the Artist in Residence with Seven Oaks School Division for over 24 years. As Artist in Residence, Lita collaborated with teachers, integrating art into the school division’s curricula. In the past, Fontaine has also taught Foundation Drawing and Aboriginal Art History at the University of Manitoba’s School of Art as a Sessional Instructor. Even with a busy schedule, Fontaine’s focus is her own professional art practice.

Fontaine’s practice is predominately studio-based and her methodology in the area of arts education is hands-on, where creative processes play an integral role in learning.  Fontaine believes the visual arts act as a catharsis that nourishes emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual growth while making art.