The Thunderbird Sisters Collective
Our mission statement:
We, The Thunderbird Sisters Collective, would like to welcome you to our organization, where we do not tolerate any lateral violence. “A common goal that our group members share is to first care for our mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health so that we may flourish in our own artistic abilities. This way we will be better prepared to effectively provide a platform for other Indigenous artists to reclaim traditional artistic practices. In the grand scheme of things, our common goal is cultural reclamation and preservation through art.”
Written by former youth lead and supporter Shana Southwind
The Thunderbird Sisters Collective was founded in 2017 by Metis artist, Patsea Griffin, following workshops where she would see some of her friends create the most fabulous beadwork as well as other traditional and non-traditional artwork then tuck it away in a drawer, tin container, or ziplock bag as was the case with her beadwork. Sometimes never to be seen again.
“I decided that I wanted to show my work that took hours to create and then I thought why not help others as well. There are so many talented people in the community that never get to show their work. And it’s amazing work.”
And so The Thunderbird Sisters Collective was born – Creative Women United in Indigenous Culture.
The Thunderbird Sisters collective is by far one of my best ideas!
In 2019, The Thunderbird Sisters Collective partnered with the No Borders Art Festival and since then we, Patsea and Carmel Whittle, have created many successful Indigenous events together like Bringing the Land to the City, On our Land, Podcast #83 and Covid, Coping and the Arts.
Now 2021, The Thunderbird Sisters Collective is a Not-for-profit organization whose goal is to create youth-led safe spaces where it will be demonstrated that learning Indigenous knowledge is marketable and transferrable to life experience, the workplace and the community.
We’re going to dream out loud.
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The Thunderbird Sisters Collective 