(1) Ticket to Aanikoobijiganag
Baggage Building Arts Centre 2200 Sleeping Giant Pkwy, Thunder Bay, ON
October 15 – 18, 2025
Aanikoobijiganag: Thunder Bay Beading Symposium
October 15 to 18, 2025
The Chanterelle on Park
206 park ave, thunder bay, on canada P7B 1C2
Baggage Building Arts Centre
2200 Sleeping Giant Pkwy, Thunder Bay, ON P7A 0E8
Thunder Bay Art Gallery
1080 Keewatin St, Thunder Bay, ON, P7B 6T7
The Thunder Bay Art Gallery presents the second Aanikoobijiganag: Thunder Bay Beading Symposium in Northern Ontario. Join us for a vibrant 4-day gathering of beadwork experts and enthusiasts from Wednesday, October 15 to Saturday, October 18, 2025, in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Aaanikoobijiganag: Thunder Bay Beading Symposium is a 4-day gathering for beaders to learn and connect with the largest network of beaders in the North. This year showcases local, regional, and international artists and workshop leaders working across a range of traditional and contemporary materials alongside innovators, curators, and beadwork researchers who will share their diverse knowledge, experience, and teachings with participants. This award-winning event celebrates the joy of beading. The word Aanikoobijiganag speaks of creating new links and connections in Anishnaabemowin.
The Thunder Bay Beading Symposium is an opportunity to make genuine connections with fellow beaders and grow your community. Aanikoobijiganag: Thunder Bay Beading Symposium is organized by the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, with the collaboration and guidance of a Co-Director Committee including Jean Marshall, Leanna Marshall and Melissa Twance.
Building on the success of 2024’s inaugural event, this gathering is designed for you to have fun, learn new skills, level up knowledge and techniques, and relax while connecting with professional beaders, artists, curators, and other makers. This event highlights the rich talent of beading and craft practices in our region and across Turtle Island. All workshops are Indigenous-led, and everyone is welcome to register. All skill levels are welcome. Tickets are sold separately. One person per ticket. Tickets are limited and sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
What’s included with your ticket:
-
All-inclusive access to the 4-day symposium.
-
Exclusive organic tote/swag bag including curated local goods.
-
Three 3-hour exclusive workshops. Three workshops are included for all participants, plus one additional workshop of your choice (included in ticket price). Preferences for the additional workshop will be considered, though please note the workshops are capped in size to focus on hands-on learning. Workshop leaders are experienced and renowned beaders, artists, and crafters from our region and beyond.
-
All workshop materials are included. Workshop leaders supply beads, quills, natural pigments, moose bone, and more. You are encouraged to bring your beading and crafting supplies to work on throughout the symposium, but it is not required.
-
Lunch is provided (fixed menu with veggie/meat/gluten-free options)
-
Bus shuttle to select events.
-
Hotel discount code at The Delta Hotel by Marriott on Thunder Bay’s waterfront. Conference rate booking link will be emailed to all ticket holders directly.
-
Access to premiere programming including: keynote, artist panels, artist talks, art openings, curator conversations, beading circles, an Indigenous Craft Market, and more!
TICKET PRICE: $325 per ticket
Workshop Programming
Group Welcome Beading Session
Shannon Gustafson - Beading is the Medicine
This 2-hour group workshop is designed as a gentle start to the symposium. Beading together as a large group, participants can connect, relax, and get beading! Led by Shannon Gustafson, participants learn basic edge-beading techniques by constructing an embroidered medicine pouch.
Workshops
Bev Koski - How to Bead Over Anything
Learn how to bead over anything. Bev Koski has packed a suitcase full of eraser figures and will teach you how to bead over them. This is an introduction to a beadweaving technique and explores different stitches that Bev uses in her work, including how to increase, decrease and how to add new thread. Participants will learn how to bead over small figures to bring home from Aanikoobijiganag.
Kaaren Dannemann - Gifts from our Relation the Moose
In Gifts from Our Relation the Moose, Kaaren Dannemann begins with Medicine Wheel Teachings and examples of reciprocal caretaking in our everyday lives. Participants will make a pendant from the bone of a moose. This beautiful piece of jewelry will act as a reminder of respecting Mama Akii, the Land, and All Our Relations.
Additional Workshop Selections
Please rank your preference for one additional workshop. Select your preference in order as First Choice, Second Choice, and Third Choice. We will make every effort to register each participant in their first choice of workshop. Due to space limitations, first choice is not guaranteed. All the workshops are unforgettable, and deadly!
Anong Beam - Tisgeh’dah! Let’s put colour on it!: Watercolor for Designers
Anong Beam will show you how to design signature, vibrant, and unexpected colourways. Using natural watercolour paints and pigments and creatively combining colour in your beadwork designs. She teaches basic watercolour techniques and expands into different ways artists and beaders can experiment with colour before committing to designs in beads or other media. This workshop is all about colour!
Marcy Friesen - Smoke Break
Marcy Friesen wants you to join her for a breath of fresh air. She welcomes all smokers and non-smokers to join her and learn how to create a peyote-stitched beaded cigarette. Since losing her Dad, Marcy has been contemplating her life and looks at cigarettes as a symbolic part of her journey. Participants create a beaded cigarette ready to take home.
Vanessa Dion Fletcher - Introduction to Quillwork
Grounded in Lunáapew quillwork and language, Vanessa Dion Fletcher highlights the diverse material and design possibilities of the porcupine quill. This is an introduction to the basic tools and methods for harvesting, sorting, and dyeing quills. Participants learn one or more of the fundamental stitching techniques, including zigzag, straight, and single-quill line stitches.
Waitlist is available at theag.ca
