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Red Deer museum wins international acclaim for original exhibit of powwow regalia

Powwow! Ohcîwin the Origins exhibit can still be seen on the museum’s website
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Patrick Mitsuing, who guest curated an award-winning exhibit of powwow regalia at the Red Deer Museum with his wife Marrisa Mitsuing, is shown in this 2020 file photo adjusting a porcupine head dress. (Photo by LANA MICHELIN/Advocate staff).

An original exhibit of powwow regalia has garnered a prestigious North American award for the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery.

The Costume Society of America chose the Red Deer museum as a recipient of the 2022 Richard Martin Exhibition Award for Small Museums for the display Powwow! Ohcîwin the Origins.

This exhibit was guest curated and created by Patrick and Marrisa (Moccasin) Mitsuing, of Red Deer, who gathered stories, worked with elder “Knowledge Keepers” across North America, and co-ordinated the making of the regalia for this exhibition.

The seven regalia ensembles, representing seven powwow dance styles, were made by Indigenous artists from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia, Montana, and Arizona. The educational exhibit ran at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery from September 2020 through February 2021 in the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation and in a province where powwow was once outlawed.

The exhibition can still be seen on the museum’s website at https://reddeermuseum.com/powwow-ohciwin-the-origins.

The Costume Society of America, located in Columbus, Georgia, aims to foster an understanding of appearance and dress practices of people across the globe. The Richard Martin Exhibition Awards, first presented in 2002, are named for the former curator of costumes at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Fashion Institute of Technology.

The Red Deer museum will receive a certificate and a $750 award, funded by the CSA Endowment. As well, a museum representative will be invited an an expense-paid trip to speak at the CSA National Symposium next year.