This year marks the 11th annual New Sun Conference, and like for the last 11 years, I was there. The New Sun Conference has been a part of my year for a while now and always is inspiring to me. Although I’m no longer a university student, I do still appreciate learning about other Aboriginal artists and broadening my horizons.

Last year’s conference was shortly after some health problems, it was good to get back to something familiar and invigorating. It was the 10th annual conference and during the lunch time performance a piece of Eagle down landed close by. We were told that this down was sacred and it was “lucky” for it to land on us. I put this little piece of down in a container which I keep with the drops I use to treat my eye disease. I also have a small shell that I got as a gift at Women’s World last summer. They remind me of good memories and to stay positive. It’s hard to believe a year has gone by but I’m definitely ready to start this new year!

This year’s conference was amazing, every year it seems to out do itself, it always makes me think and inspires me. That’s not to say that the topics are always easy, in fact, this year many of the topics were challenging. This year touched on so many things: about the role of women, murdered and missing Aboriginal women, reality, technology, health issues, about our communities, abuse, violence, equality, identity, stereotypes but, also, about hope and evolution. KC Adams started the morning off with a talk about cyborg hybrids and identity. I really appreciated how she chooses to appreciate her cultures. I have a similar cultural background and being bi-racial is definitely about balance and recognizing and appreciating where you come from and how that shapes who you are. I love her concept of the cyborg hybrid and creating identity that is free of racism and stereotypes.

Watching the clip from “Finding Dawn”, produced by Christine Welsh, was especially hard. This week I went to a talk with the aunt of another missing Aboriginal girl. Hearing her first hand account of what her family had gone through was heartbreaking. As was watching Ramona Wilson’s family honor her after she was murdered on the Highway of Tears. Where did these women go? Then John Kim Bell reminded us about our successes. I still remember going to my first Aboriginal Achievement Awards in Ottawa as a young girl – how excited I was to learn about all those receiving awards, seeing the amazing show and seeing what other Aboriginal people were doing. It was one of the first times I was exposed to new Aboriginal people to look up to. It was very inspiring to my young self.

At lunch we were all entertained by the crew from BluePrintForLife - the highlight, having two elders work the DJ booth.

The afternoon had great speakers Skawennati and BluePrintForLife – about community outreach that is culturally appropriate, reaching the youth in our communities – bringing communities together, in physical and virtual reality, through the arts.

So where is the hope? The hope is in programs like BluePrintForLife and in each of the presenters, who all have something to offer through their art, each reconfiguring their reality, and ours.

So as many of you know winter isn’t my season, I’m definitely a spring summer kind of gal. I start every spring year by attending the New Sun Conference at Carleton University. This conference brings together amazing artists from every genre to speak about their experiences, art and how it all came to be. This year was their 10th anniversary and my 10th time attending. The first year I hadn’t even started university yet but I knew I wanted to study art and so I attended with my dad – the rest is history.

This year I was so excited because Douglas Cardinal was going to speak. Some of you will know that he is an amazing architect and activist, in my opinion, best known for the Museum of Civilization. It was so interesting to hear him speak and explain how he went about designing his project and then bring them to life. Every detail symbolizes something – whether it’s a beam shaped like a canoe paddle or a water feature flowing down the side of the museum.

All the presenters were great and I really enjoyed the lunch time performance by Git Hayetsk Dancers. This dance troupe has continued their traditions in terms of dance and performance but have also started to create new dances and new costumes to represent the present. It was amazing to watch as I’ve never been exposed to come of their traditions, including dancing and “blessing” people with eagle down.

The best thing about New Sun is that I know it means that spring is coming and gets new ideas flowing for the coming year. It has become a part of my spring tradition and even though it’s freezing outside today the thoughts of the inspirational talks and interesting conversations warms my mind.

Happy Holy Week – and Happy Easter to all!

I say it every year…this was the best year but I mean it, this was the best year! Saturday morning at 6:15am we packed up the car and left the winter wonderland to drive back in Ottawa for the New Sun conference.

If you’ve read my blog for at least a year then you know that for the last 9 years I’ve been attending the New Sun conference. Every year new speakers come, some I’ve heard of and some I haven’t but I am always, always profoundly moved. Like New Sun is the the air that fills my spirit and rejuvenates me for spring and starting another year.

This year I was excited to hear from all of the speakers, especially the first two. I was worried we might accidently sleep in, the weather or traffic would be bad and this would cause me to miss the first speakers – fortunately, none of these things happened and although I was sad to miss the morning prayer and welcome, I was very happy to make it in time for the speakers.

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Every year I am excited to attend the New Sun conference at Carleton University. I went to the first one 9 years ago when I was in 1st year university studying visual arts at UWO. I was so excited to be surrounded by accomplished and interesting Aboriginal artists. I still remember when Drew Hayden Taylor and Don Kelly spoke and hearing Jeffrey Thomas speak about photography.

New Sun Poster

Since then I’ve enjoyed listening to and meeting many inspiring artists in all genres – culinary arts, film, dance, vocal, photography and the list goes on and on! There is no other conference like New Sun – it’s relaxed and intimate venue and informative speakers can not be matched! And don’t even get me started on the amazing buffet at lunch! )

The New Sun conference is just weeks away and already I’m excited about some of the artists I am aware of already, like the extremely talented Christi Belcourt that I met last summer but all the speakers have peaked my interest.

Please visit www.trickstershift.com for more information and check out this year’s beautiful poster.

Cheers!

Last Saturday, I attend the New Sun Conference, at Carleton University - an annual conference I’ve been attending for the last 8 years. I started attending when my dad told me that it was a conference on Aboriginal Arts and being interested in art I thought it sounded really cool. I loved the first one – I was inspired by the artists and amazed by what they were accomplishing in their fields. Since the first one I have listened to artists from many creative areas, such as culinary cuisine to musical performance.

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