client: Beaverbrook Art Gallery date published: Dec 03, 2023 content type: Documentaries
documentary
Wabanaki Modern
Documentary, 21 minutes
In partnership with Cazador Inc. and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, we co-produced a cinematic documentary now streaming on CBC Gem that resurrects the lost history of New Brunswick's groundbreaking 1960s Indigenous art collective, the Micmac Indian Craftsmen.
Executive Producer:Greg Hemmings, Steve Foster , Sandy Hunter, Clem McIntosh
Producer: Sandy Hunter
Director:Clem McIntosh
A premium companion documentary short featuring elder artists and premier curators, optimized for public broadcast and digital streaming.
The Challenge
In the early 1960s, a trailblazing modern art movement took root on Elsipogtog First Nation, New Brunswick's largest Mi'kmaq reserve. Calling themselves the "Micmac Indian Craftsmen," this group of mostly self-taught artists fused traditional Wabanaki imagery with striking geometric abstraction, creating an international following almost overnight and landing their work at Expo 67. However, following a sudden withdrawal of federal funding in 1966, the collective dissolved, and their monumental impact was tragically erased from the Canadian art history canon for decades. When the Beaverbrook Art Gallery prepared a major landmark exhibition to revive this forgotten legacy, they faced a hurdle: how to expand this critical story beyond the gallery walls and share it with a broad, national audience.
Our Approach
We leaned into our deep expertise in high-impact public broadcasting and partnered with the team at Cazador Inc. to produce Wabanaki Modern, a cinematic documentary short.
A Visual Companion to History: Operating as a direct companion to the Beaverbrook exhibition and the accompanying book published by Goose Lane Editions, we designed a film that acts as a living historical record.
Elevated Expert & Elder Voices: Our production team captured deeply moving, insightful interviews with the exhibition’s co-curators, Emma Hassencahl-Perley and Dr. John Leroux, alongside curators from Maine's Abbe Museum and the elder artists themselves. We gave them a platform to unpack the profound cultural, political, and artistic weight of the 1960s collective.
National Broadcast Delivery: We optimized and polished the final film to meet the rigorous storytelling standards required for a national broadcast, successfully securing a distribution partnership to stream the project across the country.
The love and effort and success that emanated from the community is still present today," said Hassencahl-Perley.
The Impact
Our collaboration transformed an art gallery exhibition into a permanent, highly accessible piece of Canadian media history. Now streaming nationally on CBC Gem, Wabanaki Modern has reintroduced the groundbreaking work of the Micmac Indian Craftsmen to millions of viewers. By pairing cinematic b-roll of the minimalist, contemporary artwork with raw historical context, the film successfully rewrote the narrative around modern Indigenous art in Atlantic Canada. It serves as a vital educational tool, a source of profound regional pride, and a catalyst ensuring that these unsung artistic ancestors are never forgotten again.The impact has continued to grow ever since.
