Gordon Sparks: Mi’kmaq Creation Story at Mount Allison University

Photo: Captured by Sasha, 2023

Gordon Sparks: Mi’kmaq Creation Story

April 2, 2026 @ 6:00pm
Windsor Grand Hall, Mount Allison University
145 Main Street, Sackville, NB
This is a free event and open to the public

Join artist Gordon Sparks for a special presentation of the Mi’kmaq creation story. Sparks is a Mi’kmaw artist committed to mentorship and cultural preservation. Raised in Papineau First Nation, he now lives in Rought Waters, New Brunswick, where he practices traditional Mi’kmaq wooden mask carving and tattooing. He learned his craft from master carver Edward Ned Bear (1954-2019), who in turn learned from an Elder in his community. Central to Spark’s vision path is the preservation and transmission of traditional Mi’kmaq knowledge and wisdom, including stories, ceremonies, food, and medicine. As he explains, “Traditional wooden mask carving is the medicine that connects our oral stories to our visual language as Mi’kmaq people from the east coast of Turtle Island known now as Canada. Mask medicine has the ability to bring people to gather in a safe place to share our oral history through stories, ceremonies, drums and dance. The knowledge of mask making has provided me with the ability to discover my roots through the art of sculpture.”

This presentation is part of the Indigenous Speaker Series at Mount Allison University, which is organized in collaboration with Nicole Porter, Mi’kmaq cultural coordinator and knowledge keeper for Amlamgog (Fort Folly First Nation), and funded through the Marjorie Young Bell Distinguished Speaker Endowment Fund and Future Wabanaki. It is linked to an upcoming artist residency that is being organized by the Owens Art Gallery.

We would like to acknowledge that Mount Allison University, is located within the Sikniktewaq district of the traditional territory of Mi’kma’ki, the unceded ancestral homelands of the Mi’kmaq. Our relationship and our privilege to live on this territory was agreed upon in the Peace and Friendship Treaties of 1725 to 1752. Because of this treaty relationship, it is to be acknowledged that we are all Treaty People and have a responsibility to respect this territory.

Owens Art Gallery
Mount Allison University
61 York Street
Sackville, NB E4L 1E1
506-364-2574
owens@mta.ca
www.owensartgallery.com
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Monday to Friday, 10:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday and Sunday, 1:00pm – 5:00pm
Admission is Free

The Owens is partially accessible. For detailed information on venue access, please visit our Accessibility page. If you have any questions about your visit, please email owens@mta.ca or call (506) 364-2574.