June 22 2025
Atheana Picha art exhibit opening event
In June 2025, the Mayne Island Library hosted the work of multi-disciplinary artist Atheana Picha for the third annual Salish art exhibit on SḴŦAḴ. This show highlighted Picha’s work in serigraph, intaglio print, digital drawing, weaving, and painting on hide and on wood. On June 22nd we held a public opening event, with an artist talk, opening words from Elder J,SIṈTEN Dr John Elliott, and refreshments for all.
Curatorial intern Rylee Tage offered some words on the exhibit, shared below.
Good afternoon, my name is Rylee Taje, and I am the curatorial intern helping out with this wonderful exhibition. It has been an amazing opportunity to work with Rose, Tina, Sandra, David, and Jennifer while handling the work of Athena Picha.
The work we are lovingly surrounded by today commemorates an annual salish artists exhibition in this library. Looking at the current life of Mayne Island, we must recognize and honor the lives that came before, as Picha does in her work. The history of Mayne Island, and the coast, is largely indigenous, and it continues to be, in an altered manner due to Western expansion, development to further build colonies and settlements, and differing ways of people migrating to these lands, and also being expelled from these lands.
Within the library, those who come in are surrounded by that which always surrounds us, nature, our animal relations, and the long histories and stories they gift us with. Picha’s work is enveloped in her Salish cultural background, and as we look at this work, we recognize teachings that have been blessed in these lands that have been growing from the first sunrise. In the mediums Picha uses, we see more of that drive of learning, as the works span painting, weaving, digital drawing, and two forms of printmaking: etching and silk screen.
When I look at this work, I see an attention to detail, both in the sense of mark making and attention to the subject. As I have recently worked my way through a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Pichas’ expansive toolkit is a commendable thing, as well as a support for her exploration of icons within the West Coast. There is a play with how to place pigment, many works in the exhibition have opaque and flat colour blockings that speak to a sublime boldness that instantly draws in the audience, in conversation with these bold works we see Picha’s sense of shading as well. I find these works incredibly atmospheric as their backgrounds consider what is brought forth and what is pushed within the frame. Within the weaving that greets us right as we enter the library, the use of white and off-whites beckons us closer to look at the patterns created and imagine the labour and effort it takes to make a blanket, and all the care that is put into it.
To be wrapped by the artworks and the environment they create within the library this Indigenous Peoples Month, I am reminded of not just the past and present of our peoples and relatives, but also the future of Indigenous peoples everywhere. We stand on the shoulders of giants, who have not just survived, but continued to live and create. We too must remember that there are those who will stand on our shoulders, if they are not already. We are all in relation, and as we honour the past we honour the future. Our stories will never stop being contemporary, as every year there will be the joy of someone tasting the juice of a salmonberry, a person having a run- in with a raven that is too mischievous, and another who sits by the seashore taking in the sight of an eagle’s wings as it glides through the air. Ish nish, thank you for this experience.
