Limited supplies; first come, first served.

About Culture Club at MOA

Join MOA on the last Sunday of each month for Culture Club! Drop in and enjoy engaging art-making activities designed for families. This series offers young visitors artful learning opportunities, allowing families to get creative and connect with MOA’s diverse collections and exhibitions. See the full schedule.

Culture Club at MOA is made possible by the generous support of UBC Campus + Community Planning

April’s Art Club at MOA will celebrate Coming Together: The Objects We Meet and the Stories They Carry, a new exhibition by this year’s UBC ANTH 431: Museum Practice and Curatorship class. This month’s craft is mini display box making and decorating, highlighting the unique, personal stories at the heart of this student exhibition.

Art Club at MOA is a new monthly evening series for adult visitors who are curious about using craft as a way to connect—both with the Museum’s collections and exhibitions, and with one another. Part creative workshop, part social gathering, Art Club offers a relaxed space to slow down, experiment, and make meaning through art. See the full schedule.

Art Club sessions are free and located in the Cedar Café at MOA (does not include admission into the museum).

Limited supplies; first come, first served.

If objects could speak, what stories would they tell? This undergraduate student exhibition follows brings together 16 different objects in MOA’s collection to answer that very question.

Over the course of eight months, the students of ANTH 431 explored the central theme of storytelling by spending time with objects that resonated with them, searching for associated records, and listening to expert knowledge-holders.

Coming Together refers to the breadth of objects they have chosen to display and their experiences with them. Whether through distance, time, or record-keeping, some of the objects have been disconnected from their lives, making their stories challenging to share.

This exhibition was curated by UBC students of ANTH 431: Museum Practice and Curatorship.

Program | 6:30 pm

A woman ahead of her time, Thornton defied convention, embraced adventure, and sought to build connections between Indigenous and settler communities through her work. The screening will be followed by a short Q+A with filmmaker Shay Wilson and Anthony Westbridge (Westbridge Fine Art), moderated by MOA’s Curator of Indigenous Engagement, Damara Jacobs-Petersen.

All attendees will receive a complimentary copy of Owas-Ka-Ta-Esk-Ean, Indigenous Portraits by Mildred Valley Thornton, FRSA (1890-1967), the recently published catalogue raisonné of almost 300 Indigenous portraits painted over a career spanning more than 40 years.

Limited capacity. First come, first served.

23 minute runtime followed by Q+A.

Bio

Born in 1890 in Dresden, Ontario, Mildred Valley Thornton’s family moved to Regina in 1913. There she became fascinated with the Plains Indians. By 1926 she was married with children, nevertheless she spent weeks at a time away from home, living with different native communities across the prairies, gaining the trust and acceptance of her subjects, who permitted her to attend ceremonies and rituals seldom seen by non-Natives. She felt responsible for capturing Canada’s Native history in written word and in paintings.

When the depression hit in the 1930s, Thornton and her family moved to British Columbia, where she was enchanted by the natural landscape and continued to study and paint the local native populations. She spent time in London, England, where her work was exhibited at the Royal Commonwealth Institutes. She returned to Vancouver in 1961, but was victim to failing health. She died in 1967. Although the Canadian government has refused her collection, Thornton received many honors, including two from native tribes. The Kwakiutl tribe of British Columbia made her a princess of the Clan Eagle and named her “Ah-ou-Mookht,” meaning “the one who wears the blanket because she is of noble birth,” and the Crees named her “Owas-ka-esk-ean” or “putting your best ability for us Indians.”

Learn more about the exhibition and the process behind it, and take one final look at this thought-provoking show before it closes. Entangled Territories: Tibet Through Images reimagines Tibet by examining how it has been represented historically by outsiders and how Tibetans today represent and speak about their own histories and identities. Developed in collaboration with Tibetan Canadian community members and artists, the exhibition highlights both Tibet’s rich cultural heritage and its contemporary political context, centering Tibetan voices and perspectives throughout.

Bios

Dr. Fuyubi Nakamura (中村冬日) is a socio-cultural anthropologist and is the curator of Entangled Territories: Tibet through Images. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Asian Studies and Curator, Asia at the Museum of Anthropology, the University of British Columbia. Since visiting Dharamsala in India in 1995 and Tibet and Nepal in the 2010s, the Himalayan region has remained one of her research interests. While a graduate student at the University of Oxford, she worked on the “The Tibet Album: British Photography in Central Tibet 1920–1950” project and the Seeing Lhasa: British Depictions of the Tibetan Capital 1936-1947 exhibition (2003) at the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford.

ཧྥུ་ཡུ་བྷི་ནཱ་ཁ་མུ་ར་ནི་སྤྱི་ཚོགས་དང་རིག་གཞུང་གི་མི་རྒྱུད་དཔྱད་རིག་ཆེད་མཁས་ཤིག་ཡིན་ལ། དཀའ་རྙོག་ནང་གི་ཡུལ་སྡེ། པར་རིས་ནང་གི་བོད་ཅེས་པའི་གོ་སྒྲིག་པ་རེད། ཁོང་ནི་ཡུ་བྷི་སི་གཙུག་ལག་སློབ་གཉེར་ཁང་གི་ཤར་ཕྱོགས་ཞིབ་འཇུག་སྡེ་ཚན་གྱི་ཕྱག་སྦྲེལ་སློབ་དཔོན་དང་མི་རྒྱུད་དཔྱད་རིག་འགྲེམ་སྟོན་ཁང་གི་ཨེ་ཤ་ཡའི་ཁུར་ལེན་མགོ་འདོན་པ་རེད། ༡༩༩༥ ལོར་རྡ་རམ་ས་ལར་གཟིགས་སྐོར་དང་། དེ་རྗེས་ ༢༠༡༠ ལོར་བོད་དང་བལ་ཡུལ་ ནང་གཟིགས་སྐོར་བྱས་པ་ནས་བཟུང་ཧི་མ་ལ་ཡའི་མངའ་ཁུལ་ནི་ཁོང་གི་ཞིབ་འཇུག་ཁྱབ་ཁོངས་གཙོ་བོ་ཞིག་ཡིན་འདུགཁོང་ཉིད་ཨོ་ཁི་སི་ཧྥོར་ཌི་གཙུག་ལག་སློབ་གྲྭའི་མཐར་ཕྱིན་པ་ཞིག་ཡིན་སྟབས། ཁོང་གིས་བོད་ཀྱི་པར་དེབ། ༡༩༢༠ ལོ་ནས་༡༩༥༠ལོའོ་བར་གྱི་དབྱིན་ཇིའི་པར་རིས། ཞེས་པའི་ལས་འཆར་སྐོར་ལ་ཕྱག་ལས་གནང་བ་དང་། ལྷ་ས་མཇལ་བ། ༡༩༣༦ ལོ་ནས་༡༩༤༧ལོའི་བར་དབྱིན་ཇིས་པར་དུ་བླངས་པའི་བོད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་སའི་པར་རིས། ཞེས་པ་ ༢༠༠༣ ལོར་ཕི་ཊི་གཙང་བོའི་འགྲེམ་སྟོན་ཁང་དུ་ཚུགས་པའི་འགྲེམ་སྟོན་སྐབས་ཕྱག་ལས་གནང་ཡོད་པ་རེད།

Kunsang Kyirong is a first-generation Tibetan Canadian filmmaker and artist from Vancouver, Canada. Her films integrate documentary methods with fiction, often exploring the impacts of immigration on culture and human relationships. She graduated with a BFA in 2D + Experimental Animation from the Emily Carr University of Art + Design in 2020, and is completing an MFA in Film Production at York University, Toronto.

སྐྱིད་གྲོང་ཀུན་བཟང་ནི་ཁེ་ན་ཌའི་ཝན་ཁོ་ཝར་གྲོང་ཁྱེར་གྱི་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་དང་གློག་བརྙན་བཟོ་སྐྲུན་པ་དང་། མི་ཐོག་དང་པོའི་བོད་པ་རེད། མོ་རང་གི་གློག་བརྙན་རྣམས་ནི་དངོས་བྱུང་དང་བཅོས་སྒྲུང་མཉམ་འབྲེལ་གྱི་ཐབས་ལམ་སྤྱད་ནས་བཟོ་བཞིན་པ་དང་། བརྗོད་དོན་ཕལ་ཆེ་བ་ནི་ཡུལ་མི་གནས་སྤོར་བས་རིག་གཞུང་དང་མིའི་འབྲེལ་བར་ཤུགས་རྐྱེན་ཇི་ལྟར་ཐེབས་ཀྱིན་པའི་སྐོར་ལ་འཚོལ་ཞིབ་བྱེད་ཀྱིན་ཡོད་པ་རེད། ཁོ་མོ་ ༢༠༢༠ ལོར་ཨེ་མི་ལི་སྒྱུ་རྩལ་དང་ཇུས་འགོད་གཙུག་ལག་སློབ་གྲྭ་ནས་ཚོད་ལྟའི་འགུལ་རིས་དང་ +2D ཡི་མཛེས་རྩལ་སློབ་གཉེར་མཐར་ཕྱིན་པ་རེད། ད་ལྟ་ཊོ་རོན་ཊོ་ཡོར་ཁི་གཙུག་ལག་སློབ་གྲྭ་ནས་མཛེས་རྩལ་རིག་གནས་རབ་འབྱམས་པ་འཐོན་མུས་རེད།

To mark the start of spring, join us to chase away the dark winter months and celebrate the return of the sun. Create handmade kites with your family to play with outdoors, and design suncatchers to welcome the warmth of the sun into your own home. All-ages storybooks and colouring sheets will also be available.

Limited supplies; first come, first served.

About Culture Club at MOA

Join MOA on the last Sunday of each month for Culture Club! Drop in and enjoy engaging art-making activities designed for families. This series offers young visitors artful learning opportunities, allowing families to get creative and connect with MOA’s diverse collections and exhibitions. See the full schedule.

Culture Club at MOA is made possible by the generous support of UBC Campus + Community Planning

The March session is a tribute to our new feature exhibition Tupananchiskama: Ancient Andean Cosmovision (opening March 19). As the exhibit focuses on ceramic works, this month we will be working with air-dry clay to create figures inspired by the Andean Cosmology at the heart of Tupananchiskama.

Art Club at MOA is a new monthly evening series for adult visitors who are curious about using craft as a way to connect—both with the Museum’s collections and exhibitions, and with one another. Part creative workshop, part social gathering, Art Club offers a relaxed space to slow down, experiment, and make meaning through art. See the full schedule.

Art Club sessions are free and located in the Cedar Café at MOA (does not include admission into the museum).

Limited supplies; first come, first served.

Tupananchiskama: Ancient Andean Cosmovision explores the enduring worldviews of ancient Andean civilizations through nearly 100 remarkable pre-Columbian ceramics, textiles, and carved works—drawn from a collection donated to MOA by former UBC professor Alan R. Sawyer. Some of these remarkable and precise works date back more than 2,500 years.

Rooted in Andean cosmovision, the exhibition reveals a holistic understanding of the universe grounded in reciprocity, balance, and the recognition of nature as a living being. Far more than artistic objects, the belongings on display embody relationships between humans, ancestors, landscapes, and sacred forces.

Named for a Quechua word meaning “until life brings us together again,” Tupananchiskama invites visitors to reflect on continuity, resilience, renewal, and the cycles that connect past, present, and future.

Schedule

11 am + 1:30 pm

Free with museum admission.
Limited capacity; first come, first served.
Tour will last approximately one hour.

Bio

Luis Manuel González is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Anthropology at The University of British Columbia. He is also a Research Associate in the Archaeology Centre at the University of Toronto. A licensed professional archaeologist and educator trained at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru, Luis Manuel has over two decades of research experience throughout the Andes. He has served as director and supervisor of various projects in the Lima, Chilca, Nasca, Cajamarca, La Libertad, and Arequipa regions of Peru since 2009.

Enjoy free museum admission (starting at 6 pm) for the opening night of Tupananchiskama: Ancient Andean Cosmovision . The exhibition presents nearly 100 pre-Columbian ceramic works exploring Andean worldviews rooted in reciprocity, balance, and nature as a living force. Meaning “until life brings us together again” in Quechua, Tupananchiskama reflects cycles of life, death, and renewal, inviting reflection on continuity and resilience across time.

Celebrate the opening of our new feature exhibition with free museum admission, opening remarks, a Peruvian despacho (ancestral ceremony) by knowledge keeper Paola (Pao) Noriega, and a folkloric dance performance by Roots Peruvian Folk Dance.

Free museum admission | 6 pm onwards
Program | 7 – 8 pm

No RSVP required.
Light refreshments will be served (6 pm onwards).

Bios

Pao Noriega is an Indigenous Andean Ñusta Paqo, Mesa Carrier, Original Peoples Advocate, conscious coach, and knowledge keeper born in Peru and initiated into the sacred Q’ero lineage. She carries the Quechua, Aymara, and Amazonian roots of her ancestors and shares their teachings with integrity and devotion. Her work bridges ancestral Earth based technology with modern science for healing and transformation. Pao guides ceremonies, rituals, and community offerings that help individuals reconnect with themselves, with the Earth, with their roots, and with their ancestral medicine. She walks with the teachings of her maestros from the Andes, preserving their knowledge in its purest form and sharing it in a way that is accessible, grounded, and rooted in reciprocity.

Roots Peruvian Folk Dance is a Peruvian folklore dance ensemble based in British Columbia, dedicated to celebrating and sharing the vibrant traditions of Peru. Under the direction of Jessica Roca Muncaster, the dancers, with various cultural backgrounds, bring the rhythms, colours, and stories of Peru’s Coast, Andes, and Amazon regions to life through dynamic performances, stunning costumes, and vibrant music. As ambassadors of Peruvian culture, Roots Peruvian Folk Dance aim to inspire audiences of all ages and backgrounds, creating moments that connect people, celebrate diversity, and bring the joy of Peruvian folklore to every stage they perform on.

Entangled Territories: Tibet Through Images reimagines Tibet by showing how it has been represented historically by outsiders, and how Tibetans themselves now present and talk about Tibet. This exhibition highlights the importance of Tibet’s rich cultural heritage as well as its current political context. Developed in collaboration with Tibetan Canadian community members and artists, the exhibition showcases Tibet and Tibetans through their own lenses and voices.

Bio

Dr. Fuyubi Nakamura (中村冬日) is a socio-cultural anthropologist and is the curator of Entangled Territories: Tibet through Images. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Asian Studies and Curator, Asia at the Museum of Anthropology, the University of British Columbia. Since visiting Dharamsala in India in 1995 and Tibet and Nepal in the 2010s, the Himalayan region has remained one of her research interests. While a graduate student at the University of Oxford, she worked on the “The Tibet Album: British Photography in Central Tibet 1920–1950” project and the Seeing Lhasa: British Depictions of the Tibetan Capital 1936-1947 exhibition (2003) at the Pitt Rivers Museum.

ཧྥུ་ཡུ་བྷི་ནཱ་ཁ་མུ་ར་ནི་སྤྱི་ཚོགས་དང་རིག་གཞུང་གི་མི་རྒྱུད་དཔྱད་རིག་ཆེད་མཁས་ཤིག་ཡིན་ལ། དཀའ་རྙོག་ནང་གི་ཡུལ་སྡེ། པར་རིས་ནང་གི་བོད་ཅེས་པའི་གོ་སྒྲིག་པ་རེད། ཁོང་ནི་ཡུ་བྷི་སི་གཙུག་ལག་སློབ་གཉེར་ཁང་གི་ཤར་ཕྱོགས་ཞིབ་འཇུག་སྡེ་ཚན་གྱི་ཕྱག་སྦྲེལ་སློབ་དཔོན་དང་མི་རྒྱུད་དཔྱད་རིག་འགྲེམ་སྟོན་ཁང་གི་ཨེ་ཤ་ཡའི་ཁུར་ལེན་མགོ་འདོན་པ་རེད། ༡༩༩༥ ལོར་རྡ་རམ་ས་ལར་གཟིགས་སྐོར་དང་། དེ་རྗེས་ ༢༠༡༠ ལོར་བོད་དང་བལ་ཡུལ་ ནང་གཟིགས་སྐོར་བྱས་པ་ནས་བཟུང་ཧི་མ་ལ་ཡའི་མངའ་ཁུལ་ནི་ཁོང་གི་ཞིབ་འཇུག་ཁྱབ་ཁོངས་གཙོ་བོ་ཞིག་ཡིན་འདུགཁོང་ཉིད་ཨོ་ཁི་སི་ཧྥོར་ཌི་གཙུག་ལག་སློབ་གྲྭའི་མཐར་ཕྱིན་པ་ཞིག་ཡིན་སྟབས། ཁོང་གིས་བོད་ཀྱི་པར་དེབ། ༡༩༢༠ ལོ་ནས་༡༩༥༠ལོའོ་བར་གྱི་དབྱིན་ཇིའི་པར་རིས། ཞེས་པའི་ལས་འཆར་སྐོར་ལ་ཕྱག་ལས་གནང་བ་དང་། ལྷ་ས་མཇལ་བ། ༡༩༣༦ ལོ་ནས་༡༩༤༧ལོའི་བར་དབྱིན་ཇིས་པར་དུ་བླངས་པའི་བོད་ཀྱི་རྒྱལ་སའི་པར་རིས། ཞེས་པ་ ༢༠༠༣ ལོར་ཕི་ཊི་གཙང་བོའི་འགྲེམ་སྟོན་ཁང་དུ་ཚུགས་པའི་འགྲེམ་སྟོན་སྐབས་ཕྱག་ལས་གནང་ཡོད་པ་རེད།