The Chrysler Museum of Art recently announced the renowned exhibition, Early Days: Indigenous Art from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection will be on view in the Special Exhibition Gallery at the Museum, One Memorial Pl, Norfolk from May 24 – Sept. 1, 2024.
Early Days is the first survey of Canadian Indigenous art to be presented internationally. Organized by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in collaboration with current Indigenous stakeholders—scholars, traditional knowledge keepers, and living artists—the exhibition includes both historic and contemporary art from coast-to-coast.
The exhibit, which reveals the diversity and vitality of Indigenous art in Canada, features approximately 111 objects ranging from 18th-century ceremonial regalia to the work of the vanguard artists of the ’60s, ‘70s and ‘80s. The show brings together traditional objects—beadwork garments, ceremonial masks, and stone carvings—in dialogue with contemporary Indigenous practices for visitors to will discover the thriving traditions of First Nations groups from across Canada. Early Days features such artists as Norval Morrisseau, Carl Beam and Alex Janvier and includes leading contemporary Indigenous artists like Kent Monkman, Meryl McMaster and Rebecca Belmore. As the only museum in Canada devoted exclusively to Canadian art, the McMichael’s collection offers a definitive account of Indigenous art in Canada today, and the powerful tensions and continuities that exist between the present and the past.
“Early Days explores our relationship to the land, to our ancestors, and to each other. It invites a deep connection with the issues that lie at the heart of Indigenous experience, revealing cultures that are vibrant and transforming in the 21st-century. This exhibition, along with Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight in 2023, Clearly Indigenous coming in 2025, and the Tsenacommacah installation that graces the Museum’s entrance, are commitments to increasing Indigenous representation within the Chrysler Museum of Art.” said Chelsea Pierce, McKinnon McKinnon Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.
MEMBER PREVIEW CELEBRATION
Thursday, May 23, 6–9 p.m.
Exhibition preview of a rich selection of Indigenous works and stories that celebrate two centuries of powerful legacies in the McMichael’s Canadian Art Collection.
Free for members $20 for non-members
