This spring brings a new way to experience Indigenous culture in Calgary.
A local artist and performer is excited to have the chance to showcase traditions that go back centuries.
Originally from the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation in northern Alberta, Mackenzie Brown relocated to Calgary in 2021.
Brown is the Calgary Public Library’s (CPL) new Indigenous artist-in-residence.
Based out of a studio in the CPL’s Central Library, Brown is leading workshops exploring Indigenous music and traditional crafts.
“It is the best feeling in the world when you have people who are really into what you’re doing, teaching them a craft that they might never have heard of, but has been in your community for thousands of years,” Brown said. “That’s a really cool thing to be able to do.”
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Brown was showing some library patrons visiting her studio how she made gloves using muskrat hide and caribou fur.
“A lot of that stuff is going away or has …