Local art event platforms Indigenous and unhoused artists
The Milton Park Art Hive runs every Tuesday at the MAI centre
At the Milton Park Art Hive, a volunteer-run collective art creation event, an Indigenous man sits in the corner of a crowded room carving soapstone, surrounded by a cloud of white dust.
A group of people nearby are absorbed in drawing; amongst them, an elderly Indigenous lady paints with her fingers, creating art with paper and black paint.
Held every Tuesday at the Montréal, arts interculturels centre (MAI), this free, open-door event welcomes local residents, Indigenous community members and unhoused people, offering free art activities, soups and snacks.
“Spaces like this are the best way for different pockets of the neighbourhood that don’t usually interact with each other to have kind of a safe, healthy and facilitated interaction, which is good for community building,” event organizer Lil Borger said.
Several Indigenous artists participated in the event as facilitators. They provided free lessons in art forms like soapstone carving, finger painting and dreamcatcher making.
Chris Brown is one of the Indigenous soapstone artists facilitating the event and showing participants how to carve.
“What motivates me is being able to show the art of soapstoning to new people and to create knowledge of how it’s done,” Brown said, “and letting them know it’s an actual viable medium to make money off in life.”
Brown also commented that this weekly event shows the public that Indigenous people are more than an unhoused minority.
“We’re actually artists, and we’re wonderful people, and given the space and time, we actually can be creative and positive for everybody,” Brown said. “So it’s a win-win situation in these art hives.”
“These events bring me back to the residential school to help me heal,” said Violet Quinney, a residential school survivor.
Her inspiration for her painting process comes to her in the moment.
“I sit there, and I wonder, ‘What am I going to do? What am I going to do to that? Should I be into that?’” Quinney said. “It’s just that the painting came into focus.”
She also added that these events have helped her to relax and be positive.
“I just wanted to come to support the people that are helping the Native people,” Quinney said.
Borger said one of the event’s partners, Concordia University’s Centre for Creative Reuse, has been providing free art materials. Grassroots group Tlachiuak Atelier, the main supporter, has facilitated a space to sell the artwork created by the Indigenous artists and the precariously housed.
“In the past year, the artists have developed stability,” Borger said. “There are a lot of artists coming every single day now, and they’re managing to find more secure housing.”
According to Borger, the Milton Park Art Hive has plans to host these events outdoors in the summer.
“It makes our events even more accessible, and then capacity can accommodate a lot more people,” Borger said.
The Milton Park Art Hive will continue to run on Tuesday evenings at the MAI until April 22.
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