Visual Arts
Sylvain Rivard

Twenty-one vertical strips and nineteen horizontal strips are woven according to traditional basketry techniques. These strips are punctuated with woodburnt signs on the entire woven surface they make up. Regular marks of forms and drawings drawn with a red-hot point contrast with the pale wood: double curves, floral motifs typical of Indigenous ornament, various circles and dotted lines. Very light touches of dye made from strawberry juice illuminate the floral motifs. Long braids of sweetgrass cross this weft vertically, at the left, centre and right. An object symbolic of one of the key aspects of Masta's life is attached to each of these braids. On the left, a bottle of whisky speaks for itself, at the centre two eagle feathers recall that Masta was a chief and finally, on the right, a pencil illustrates that through his writing, he worked to conserve and make known the rich heritage of the Abenaki people.

Hommage à Henry Lorne Masta
Woodburnt strips of beechwood, sweetgrass, feathers, pencil, bottle and vegetable dye, 2006
101 x 93 x 21cm
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Sylvain Rivard First Nations Written Heritage