Free talk tonight by national Indigenous art expert at gallery

An expert on Indigenous art is in Sault Ste. Marie to consult with local institutions and will offer a free talk tonight at the Art Gallery of Algoma.

Greg Hill is the first Indigenous curator of the National Gallery of Canada and will offer the free talk at the art gallery on April 4 at 7:30 p.m.

“The idea is to inspire people to think about the possibilities of Indigenous art because I think we sometimes have a basic understanding of Indigenous art and what it is — when really there are so many different forms of it,” said Hill by phone on Tuesday.

Hill said Indigenous artists from around the world often bring their cultural traditions and combine them with other established art forms.

“It means it can be just about anything,” he said of the possibilities of what Indigenous art can be. “Come with an open mind and hopefully be amazed by what you will see, by what Indigenous artists are doing all over the world.”

Hill is in Sault Ste. Marie to consult with and learn from local institutions, like the Art Gallery of Algoma and Algoma University’s fine arts program.

“I am having conversations and trying to gather some information and put that in to talking about the Art Gallery of Algoma and what its hopes and dreams are as an institution and cultural centre,” he said.

One topic Hill said he won’t be discussing during Tuesday’s talk is the recent bust of a counterfeit ring in Thunder Bay that for decades has been creating fake works of art by deceased artist Norval Morrisseau.

Hill is a co-founder of the Norval Morrisseau Heritage Society.

“We were formed by request of Norval Morrisseau to start to address those very things. Not focusing on forgers, but focusing on his authentic works and start to put together a catalog resume of every known work we can find,” said Hill.

“I am very pleased that it has finally come to this point where actions have been taken and individuals have been charged and there is some progress being made in that area and the increased awareness that has created because of the media attention that it is a long-standing problem with some of the work that is purported to be by Norval Morrisseau,” he added.