This year for National Indigenous Peoples Day, celebrated on June 21 across Canada, the Artcraft Gallery has many reasons to celebrate. We are honoured to have new Indigenous artists from multiple communities participating this year, and to be building on our relationships with the people who have stewarded the Salish Sea and its islands from time immemorial.

Salt Spring Arts operates on the unceded territories of the Hul'qumi'num and SENĆOŦEN speaking peoples, including but not limited to Cowichan Tribes, Halalt First Nation, Penelakut Tribe, Stz'uminus First Nation and W̱SÁNEĆ Nation. The Artcraft Indigenous Pilot Project was initiated in 2021 to remove barriers to participation for regional Indigenous artists and craftspeople, especially those for whom the Gulf Islands are ancestral territory. During the three-year pilot project, Indigenous participants are exempt from the usual fees and receive 100% of the proceeds from their art sales.

We are privileged to have the following artists who live in the southern Vancouver Island region exhibiting at Artcraft this season:

C. David Charlie II and Clarence D. Charlie III, Tsartlip First Nation
Tanya Charlie, Tsartlip First Nation
Arliss Jones, Pacheedaht First Nation
Howard LaFortune, Sr., Cowichan Tribes, Tsawout First Nation
lessLIE, Cowichan Tribes, Penelakut Tribe, Esquimalt Nation
Mary Martin, Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation
Faye Oakes, Tsartlip First Nation
Michelle Paul, Capilano-Squamish First Nation, the St’ailes First Nations
Paul Sampson, Penelakut Tribe
Virgil Sampson, Tsartlip First Nation
Gilbert Smith, Penelakut Tribe

The Artcraft Indigenous Pilot Project welcomes and facilitates participation for regional artists who would not otherwise be part of the gallery. However, we also feature artworks and handcrafted goods by local Indigenous members, in addition to the pilot project. This season they include:

 • Stqeeye' Learning Society, featuring artwork by Qwiyahwult-hw (Stuart Pagaduan) of Cowichan Tribes
• Sherry Leigh Williams, a Métis artist, writer, and vocalist based in Salt Spring Island
 • Amanda Bird, a Mikisew Cree herbalist and social worker originally from Yellowknife who creates handcrafted herbal medicines from wild and cultivated local ingredients.