For much of April, the Western Development Museum will host traveling exhibit on northern Saskatchewan rock paintings.
The exhibit, called "Kiwetinohk: The Rock Paintings of Northern Saskatchewan," will run from April 5 to 29.
Kiwetinohk is a Cree word meaning "up north" and the exhibit features paintings from the cliffs along the Churchill River and other Boreal Forest waterways. The paintings, made with red clay mixed with bear grease, were painted on vertical rock faces near water, meaning that the artists would have stood up in their canoes to paint them. Their subject matter is broad and can be interpreted in many different ways. Featuring faces, hands, animals, and symbols, the exhibit also features interpretations of the paintings based on archaeological, ethnographic and historical study. Though the paintings have not all been reliably dated, they range in age from several hundred to over two thousand years
The exhibit was created by the Saskatchewan Archaeological society, was previously at the Humboldt Museum and is moving to the Saskatoon and Moose Jaw WDMs. It is also, significantly, the first ever Canadian Shield rock art exhibition.
