Spend some creative time at MOA during our Open Art Studio, a relaxed, drop-in art space hosted by MOA’s Indigenous Cultural Interpreters.

Located in MOA’s Multiversity Galleries, this informal studio invites visitors of all ages to slow down, observe, and respond to the artworks around them through hands-on art making. Drop in, stay for a few minutes or a little longer, and enjoy a creative pause during your museum visit. Open to all ages and abilities.

Please note: Open Art Studio is not a guided workshop or tour (visit the Cultural Interpreter tour page for information on tours).

Open Art Studio Summer Schedule* (June 22 to August 21, 2026)

Monday – Friday | 2:30 – 4:30 pm

*Schedule subject to change.

The Cultural Interpreters Program is made possible by the generous support of the Campbell Family Trust.

During their residency at MOA, Jai will be designing ceramic works in the Judy Cranmer Ceramics Laboratory (located in the Multiversity Galleries).

Bio

Jai Sallay-Carrington (they/them) is a figurative ceramic sculptor whose practice examines human identities, behaviours, and emotions through anthropomorphic forms. Drawing from their queer and transgender identity, their work uplifts queer and trans communities while interrogating dominant heteronormative and cis-normative structures. Their sculptures explore hidden aspects of selfhood through zoomorphic symbolism — each creature enriching the narrative of the human form it merges with, and deepening our understanding of internal, often unseen identities.

Attending artist residencies, installing exhibitions and teaching workshops has brought them and their artwork throughout Canada, USA, several European countries and to China. They earned their MFA at the University of Washington in 2023, receiving the De Cillia Graduating with Excellence award and the HUB Purchase award. Following their graduation, they received a grant from Canada Council for the Arts and attended a year-long residency at Baltimore Clayworks as the Lormina Salter Fellow.

Visit Jai’s website for more information.

Follow Jai on Instagram.

The Nanwang Sisters are part of a transformative generation of Indigenous artists who have helped shape contemporary Indigenous music in Taiwan. Through their music, they preserve their mother tongue, honour cultural memory, and embrace music as a powerful form of resistance, healing, and cultural continuity.

This special pop-up performance offers a rare opportunity to experience their remarkable musical journey across lands, oceans, and mountains.

Schedule
Pop-up performance at 2 pm (approx. 30 minutes)

Please note: this performance is standing-room only; seating will be limited for Elders and those with accessibility needs.

Presented in partnership with TAIWANfest. 

Bios

The Nanwang Sisters—Samingad, Lavaus, and I hua—represent a highly symbolic generation in the development of Taiwan’s Indigenous music. They grew up during a time when society was still rife with prejudice against Indigenous identity, an era when many singers were forced to conceal their Indigenous background or were cast by the mainstream market as “mountain singers.” Yet the Nanwang Sisters chose music as a means of resistance and healing—using their voices to preserve their mother tongue. Through their harmonies, the mountains become more than just mountains; they are the enduring spirit of a people and a resonance that transcends time and place.

TAIWANfest is an annual cultural festival, this year on from September 5 to 7, that explores the connections between Taiwan, Canada, and the world. Through live performances, films, talks, culinary programs, exhibitions, workshops, and more, the festival examines the influences of history and human migration on today’s culture.

As part of the 2026 UBC Harvest Feastival, experience an unforgettable evening with acclaimed Gitga’at musician Wil Uks Batsga G̱a̱laaw (Jeremy Pahl) and G̱a̱mksimoon.

Performed entirely in Sm’algya̱x, the music of G̱a̱mksimoon draws its name and spirit from the awe-inspiring waterspout – a force of nature that embodies movement, power, and transformation. Through soaring vocals, driving rhythms, and masterful storytelling, the performance honours Ts’msyen cultural traditions while creating bold new expressions that speak to contemporary audiences.

Set within MOA’s soaring Great Hall, this immersive concert invites you to experience the vitality of Indigenous language, music, and creativity in a space where culture, community, and place converge.

Schedule
Concert at 7:30 pm (approx. 1 hour)

Please note: this concert is standing-room only; seating will be limited for Elders and those with accessibility needs.

Presented in partnership with UBC Inspired’s Harvest Feastival.

Bios

G̱a̱mksimoon, translating to ‘waterspout’ in Sm’algya̱x, is a rock and roll project created by Wil Uks Batsga G̱a̱laaw (Jeremy Pahl) of the Gitga’at First Nation. Inspired by the powerful and transformative nature of the waterspout, G̱a̱mksimoon’s sound is rooted in pre-contact Ts’msyen rhythms and melodies. By performing entirely in Sm’algya̱x, the project revitalizes the language while crafting music that flows with the force and unpredictability of the natural phenomenon it’s named after.

UBC Inspired‘s annual Harvest Feastival is family-style feast of six locally-sourced dishes, which takes place under tents on the University Commons. The meal is followed by an exclusive lineup of arts and cultural experiences curated especially for Feastival guests, at UBC’s world-class Arts and Culture District. Harvest Feastival tickets on sale now.

Tupananchiskama: Ancient Andean Cosmovision explores the enduring worldviews of ancient Andean civilizations through nearly 100 exquisite pre-Columbian ceramic, textile, bone and wood works, some dating back more than 2,500 years.

These works were collected by former UBC Professor Alan R. Sawyer and donated to MOA. This exhibition highlights Andean cosmovision—a holistic and spiritual 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, and sacred forces.

These 45-minute Not Your Average Tours invite visitors to encounter Tupananchiskama through the perspectives of specialists in ceramics, Andean cosmology, and collecting history, offering layered insights into the objects, their meanings, and the complex journeys that brought them to the museum.

Capacity of 25 people per tour; first come, first served.

Schedule
Select Thursdays | 7 pm

April 30: Carol Sawyer (visual artist and daughter of Alan Reed Sawyer and Erika H Sawyer whose donated collection form the basis of the exhibition)

CANCELLED — May 28: Dr. Alexandra M. Peck (inaugural Audain Chair in Historical Indigenous Art & Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Art History, Visual Art, & Theory) — Cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances

June 25: Pao Noriega (Indigenous Andean Ñusta Paqo, Mesa Carrier, Original Peoples Advocate, conscious coach, and knowledge keeper)

Tour in Spanish/Visita guiada en español | 6 pm
Tour in English | 7 pm

September 24: Dr. Aleksa Alaica (Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Anthropology).

Bios

Carol Sawyer (she/her) is a visual artist and singer working with photography, installation, video, and improvised music. Since the early 1990’s her visual art work has investigated the connections between photography and fiction, performance, memory, and history. Collection donations from her parents, Alan Reed Sawyer and Erika H Sawyer, form the basis of the exhibition.

Dr. Alexandra M. Peck serves as the inaugural Audain Chair in Historical Indigenous Art & Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia’s Department of Art History, Visual Art, & Theory. She is an anthropologist and material culture specialist with a research focus on Pacific Northwest Native art, archaeology, and geography.

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.

Aleksa K. Alaica is Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. She is an anthropological archaeologist interested in the interactions between humans and animals in the Andes. She investigates the way different animal species influenced and shaped past cultures, with much of her work examining Moche material culture, animal bone remains, and their rich iconographic record.