Address: 4917 - 52 St., Rocky
Phone: 1 (403) 845-2788 Ask for Bev
E-mail: blweber@telus.net
Website: www.buffalospiritgifts.com
Check website for other venues.
1-877-507-3144

Metis artist Bev Weber will host a showcase of Aboriginal artwork and Traditional Handcrafts, including beadwork and hand-tanned hide treasures. Various local artists will be present to meet the public.

2 blocks west of Main Street, across from Rocky Fire Hall and Library.

Bev Weber was born in 1957 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Bev has always been interested in creativity and the arts. In several communities throughout Alberta and Saskatchewan, she painted, and sold her artwork and handcraft. She graduated with a Diploma in School of Art, in 1990.

Bev settled in Rocky Mountain House in 1992, and in 1997 started a gallery and gift shop, where she features Aboriginal art and traditional handcraft, in the manner of her "fur trade" ancestors. Her support and encouragement of other local artisans in the pursuit of creative expression keeps life interesting.
Bev is Métis, and is involved with the Métis Interpretive Project, a partnership of Parks Canada, and the Métis Nation. Bev welcomes commissions, working in a variety of mediums.

In conjunction with the Rocky Studio Tour, former Proprietor of Buffalo Spirit Gifts/Frontier Gallery, Métis Artist Bev Weber will be coordinating a Showcase of local Aboriginal Artwork and a broad selection of beautiful Handcrafts from the Rocky Mountain House area. The "Aboriginal Showcase" will be hosted in the Rocky Native Friendship Centre, located at 4917-52 Street, across from the Rocky Fire hall and Library.

Bev's artwork, as well as work of various artists, Gordon Wesley of Wesley First Nation, and Jeffrey Daychief of O'Chiese First Nation, will be displayed during the showcase. Beadwork, and tanned hide treasures, along with other First Nations and Métis traditional handcrafts will be included. Come join us for Bannock and Tea, and meet some of our talented Aboriginal Local Artisans who will be present to meet the Public.

Contact Bev by mail at:
5703-53 Ave, Rocky Mountain House, AB, T4T 1L2
E mail at blweber@telus.net or mail@buffalospiritgifts.com or by phone at 403-845-4238 or 1-877-507-3144. Throughout the summer, Bev will be traveling to other Venues within Alberta, and a selection of Aboriginal art & crafts will be available in the Rocky area at a location yet to be determined. Check the website at buffalospiritgifts.com for more information.

Partners of Passage: A Time Remembered

Originally, the Western Canadian Frontier was unmapped. Throughout the Fur Trade, partnerships and trading relationships developed, when first the Northwest Company, then the Hudson's Bay Company established their rival trading networks. A story is retold and represented in vignettes in this Ink & Pastel rendition of David Thompson's Map.

We honor the first inhabitants of the wilderness, the First Nations. We remember those women who partnered "a la façon du pays"with the first voyageurs, traders, and explorers of the Fur Trade, to eventually establish a new breed of "Canadian". Eventually, those who served to bridge the Cultures, as traders, guides and interpreters would be known as the Métis. We honor the Women of the Fur Trade era, who raised their families under harsh conditions. They stood behind their men, paddled beside the best, and led the way providing comforts, and necessities, while nurturing a New Nation.

We remember a map maker, David Thompson and his epic journey. we remember his young wife Charlotte Small, and their passage into a new world.
Translation: a la façon du pays - In the manner of the Country

Limited Edition print. Artists Melissa Gray & Bev Weber.
A commission of the David Thompson Bicentennial Committee,
Rocky Mountain House, AB 2007

Melissa Gray was born in 1981 and has lived most of her life in Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. Ernie Coombs inspired her at a young age to start drawing. After High School, in 2002, she received a Visual Art Diploma from Red Deer College. She graduated in 2004 with her BFA from Calgary's Alberta College of Art and Design. She has worked several seasons for Parks Canada which has inspired her love of Canadian History.

Many of her most recent works have been influenced by Alberta's History and the eagerness to preserve and document some if its places, people and events. She continues to work on several personal projects and commissions, and one day hopes to return to school for her MFA and become a Fine Arts Teacher.