Making a dreamcatcher, like managing a country is anything but easy.
Try as they might most youth participating in the Dream Catcher Workshop in Williams Lake Saturday needed a little help from noted Canadian Mi’maq artist Nick Huard and his nephew, Watio Splicer, to get started on creating the intricately patterned art form.
The body of the dreamcatchers was created using waxed linen thread, folded up in a neat way so that it could be unravelled a bit at a time as the web was being created.
At one point Splicer showed the group how to use their lips as a kind of third hand while guiding the treads in and out of what ultimately looks like a beautiful round spider web decorated with beads, feathers, buckskin fringes and other embellishments.
Making a dreamcatcher was the last exercise in the day-long Dream Catchers Workshop held at the Boys and Girls Club of Williams Lake and District and hosted by the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
Dream Catchers Workshops for youth ages 11 to 15 are being held in just one city in each of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories. Input from the participating youth will form part of a musical production that will tour the country later this summer in celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday.
Eight youth and one Elder participated in the Williams Lake workshop along with Boys and Girls Club helpers.
Huard, whose dreamcatchers have been exhibited at the Louvre in Paris, was stoical about his raise in the international art world.
“Fame is an empty purse,” Huard said. “I am not doing this for the glory. It is something that has to be done.”
He said the dreamcatchers created by the youth in the workshops across Canada will become part of a large piece of art work, 21 feet across, with all of the smaller dreamcatchers made by the youth hanging from it. He hopes the work will be hung in the parliament buildings in Ottawa as a reminder to Canada’s leaders to plan ahead for future generations.
“I want it to remind parliament that the decisions they are making are for generations to come, not just four year terms,” Huard said. In his First Nations culture he said it was tradition to plan ahead for seven generations.
Joining the main workshop leaders, one artist is chosen in each province to co-facilitate the workshop for that province. Daniel Maté, an acclaimed composer and lyricist from Vancouver was chosen as the B.C. co-facilitator.
While workshops can accommodate up to 20 youth, and in one case so far 25, Mate said it was nice to have smaller numbers in Williams Lake because there was more time for deeper discussion.
“These kids are super intelligent and self-aware,” Maté said. “They worked with each other really well and made a lot of room for each other’s ideas and individual personalities.”
Using the input from the youth on what inspires them musically and lyrically Maté said he will now go home and write a song that will become part of the nationally touring musical.
Having spent most of the past 10 years composing music for musicals in New York City, Maté said that on a personal level the workshop was a chance to reconnect with Canada.
Mary Francis Moore, associate artistic director of The 2017 Charlottetown Festival said the workshop leaders talked with the youth about ways to overcome shyness, develop confidence and believe in themselves to go after their dreams. They talked about what types of communities they wanted to live in and their hopes for Canada’s future.
“Their dreams may change as they get older, but we hope the workshop helps them to know where they come from, what they are capable of and to develop the confidence to go after their dreams,” Moore said.
“We are having a really great day, really special,” she said.