Thursday, April 10, 2014

Nishga Girl

Moving into the museum's permanent collection today, we start with this fishing boat, the Nishga Girl, a fishing boat with ties to the Japanese-Canadian community. It was part of a fleet of fishing boats on the coast in British Columbia, donated to the museum for display. Last year there was a bit of a dustup when the government suggested sending it back to the West Coast (one of those we're changing the mandate of this museum just because we feel like it maneuvers), but there was enough of an uproar at the time that the decision was changed. At the moment, it's away from where it was displayed in Canada Hall. It's down on the first floor in a corridor on temporary display, near where the First Nations galleries are located.


This mural is by the Odawa- Potowatomi artist Daphne Odjig. 


And this is a mural by Norval Morrisseau, an Anishinaabe artist.


The First Nations galleries take us on a general direction towards the Grand Hall (my mistake for earlier referencing it as the Great Hall), exploring various tribes from different parts of the country and their world. This display features the skulls of two bison, the larger one of which was long extinct before Europeans ever touched the North American continent.


And this traditional First Nations dress is close by.



Another display gives us these artifacts.


34 comments:

  1. What a nice collection! I love that fishing boat!

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  2. Love the fishing boat and the beautiful murals.
    What a wonderful museum.

    cheers, parsnip

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  3. Odgig and Morrisseau are amongst my favourite ndn artists, I'm so glad I got to see these today, albeit from a distance!

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  4. I am liking this section better! Love the colorful murals. :)

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  5. The murals are impressive works. Interesting story on the boat. I also liked the traditional clothing. This must be a wonderful museum to browse through.

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  6. I can sort of understand why museums like to refresh their collections but I can also understand why people get upset about it.

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  7. That would be an awfully small boat in a big gale.

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  8. the fishing boat kind of reminds me of gilligan's island ;) what a nice collection they have!

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  9. Linda: it is a boat with character.

    Parsnip: thank you!

    Ciel: I had no idea their audience extended overseas.

    Halcyon: thanks!

    Denise: it certainly is.

    EG: in this case it does come across as part to the effort by the Tories to reshape things into their vision of history.

    Revrunner: that is quite true.

    Tanya: I wouldn't have thought of rhat!

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  10. What a grand place! Thanks for sharing. The fishing boat is very attractive. The murals are beautiful. All of it is fascinating!

    Sometimes, I think, our bureaucrats do things just for the sake of doing them and thus they escape their real duties of caring for the country and the people!

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  11. I am quite familiar with this kind of stories about museums and their display... It is good that the old boat is still kept there. I really like those murals and my favorite is the one by Daphne Odjig!

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  12. some neat displays and murals, too!

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  13. I really love the first nations displays. So many interesting things to see.

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  14. I preferred the Native American collection. The working of those dresses must have taken hours. The bison skulls were neat too.

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  15. What a great museum! I love those murals.

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  16. You certainly have marvellous museum opportunities to share! Such variety and really interesting! Got to say I am a fan of your top shot!

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  17. @Luis: you're welcome!

    @Lowell: in this case it's not so much the bureaucrats as the partisan nutcases currently in government.

    @VP: I expect that the boat will be back up in Canada Hall sooner or later. Until then, having it on display will do.

    @Tex: and more of that to come!

    @Sharon: these displays really tend to draw me in every time I'm there.

    @Mari: I would imagine that they would have taken a long time to make back in the day.

    @Judy: there's a rich vibrant energy to the murals.

    @Lauren: we've got a lot of museums here, which pleases me!

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  18. great museum! Thanks for sharing :)

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  19. Would like to have a little boat just like that to cruise my section of the Danube.

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  20. Nishga Girl, a nice and a strange name for a boat.
    Many interesting things to see here!

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  21. Makes you wonder about the motives for moving the boat.
    Like this section a lot!

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  22. Wonderful post about this great museum, William. It's a wonderful collection, I specially like those colorful murals.

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  23. Now this is fascinating stuff!

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  24. @Zannnie: you're welcome!

    @Bibi: it looks maneuverable enough for the Danube!

    @Karl: there would have been a story behind the naming of that boat, no doubt.

    @RedPat: it probably doesn't fit in with the Harper regime's narrow minded view of history.

    @Jan: the artists in both cases did wonderful work.

    @Norma: I think so!

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  25. I like how they are called the "First Nations" galleries. I love seeing the dresses and it looks like there is even a pair of shoes in that last picture!

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  26. You've managed to capture these exhibits pretty well despite the typical low light of the museum. (At least no one told you to stop taking pictures.) Nishga Girl has classic Northwest lines. The Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria has some outstanding First Nations exhibits but they're obviously more focused on the West Coast tribes.

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  27. Interesting place. I love the brightly colored murals.

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  28. This IS a grand city for museums! My daughter took her kids to the ROM during March Break. They had a ball!

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  29. Very nice displays. I like most anything that is from the first Nations and that era. The garment is beautiful.
    I am glad the boats get to stay---for awhile anyway. MB

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  30. Nishga Girl is a fine old fishing vessel. I can never figure out how museum curators make their seemingly random decisions about what is suitable and what is not.

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  31. Authorities often take it upon themselves to do things that make us ordinary people made! Glad the Nishga Girl got to stay!

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  32. @Lois: to me it's good terminology.

    @Meradeth: I think so!

    @Kay: there's a nearby section where the lighting is even lower.

    @Susie: so do I.

    @Jennifer: it's been years since I've been there.

    @MB: it seems that sanity has prevailed.

    @Jack: I think management has changed.

    @Cheryl: true!

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