Three artists from across Northern B.C. have teamed up to create an all-Indigenous arts collective for both emerging and established creators.
Called the Kwa’Wet Collective, it hopes to build space for Indigenous artists across North America to showcase work, and connect with each other, especially during COVID-19.
“It’s very grounding,” said Chelen Howard-Gibbon, one of the co-founders.
“Knowing that we have created something where someone, who lives in a small community in the middle of Northern B.C., can create art and have it be seen throughout the world,” she added.
Chelen and her sister Meagan, are members of the Wet’suwet’en nation living in Prince George.
Their fellow co-founder Shonna Sawyer, a member of the Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw nation, lives in Alert Bay on Vancouver Island.
The name is a play on words, combining the two nations.
“We wanted to play on the collective part of the name as well. So Kwa’Wet is the joining, of Meagan, Shonna, and I to create this collective,” said Chelen.
The trio are participating in the ‘Three C’ challenge; community, culture, and cash, organized by the Provincial Native Friendship Centre.
Noticing COVID-19 had artists resorting to social media to sell their work, the three split off into a group during the week-long course with the goal of starting an online gallery.
“They are normally going to things like farmer’s markets and craft fairs,” she said.
“That’s completely been taken away from them.”
The pandemic has also been affecting creativity — Chelen observes artists creating less because of fewer places to sell work.
Finally, after months of preparation, the finishing touches were put on the website this morning (Sunday).
“It was hard to sleep last night!” Chelen joked.
“We’ve been working on it for a while now. Knowing that it was finally going to be presented was very exciting,” she added.
The collective welcomes art from a variety of mediums, from photography to graphic art to painting, and everything in between.
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