Indigenous Artist Market

Join us in Clifford Carl Hall, on the ground floor of the Museum, on Saturday July 23 from 1:00 - 6:00pm, as Indigenous artists share their works.

The travelling exhibition, Our Living Languages: First Peoples' Voices in BC, is also on display and available to explore.

Among the talented Indigenous artists attending is Laxiya, Dave Bodaly, a cedar weaver from Snuneymuxw First Nation.  His work is featured in the image above, and he kindly shared some words on his heritage and his craft with us:

I descend from the Johnny family, my late mom was Bernice Johnny and my grandparents were Abraham and Emily (nee James). My great grandfather was Laxiya, whose name I carry.

I have been cedar weaving since 2007 and more recently have been teaching classes at my weaving studio called Arts Collaborative in Central Nanaimo. I also work as a genealogist and trace the history of all branches of my family tree. I mostly weave with red cedar from Vancouver Island, and once in a while get yellow cedar to weave with.