Reg Porter first speaker tonight

The Institute of Architectural Studies & Conservation is hosting its annual lecture series, Mondays, beginning tonight and running to Feb. 1, at Beaconsfield’s Carriage House in Charlottetown.

Getting underway at 7 p.m., the first presentation is Millennia of Mi’kmaq Presence on the Island: A Meditation, an illustrated talk by Reg Porter.

There is archeological evidence ancestors of the First Nations have lived on what has become Prince Edward Island for over 10,000 years. Stone tool and weapon technology indicates that perhaps three major groups occupied part of the Island during that long period, the Mi’kmaq being the last to emerge.

In this talk, Porter will examine the technology of the first tangible evidence of early aboriginal culture — stone tools and weapons — as practical objects and as art. He will discuss contact with the first Europeans and will speculate on what changes this brought about in millenniaold cultures. Early art produced by Europeans of aboriginal subjects will also be looked at as well as the appearance of the first Mi’kmaq in the new art of photography. The talk will conclude with a discussion of how the Mi’kmaq are viewed today in the light of their intense efforts at self-determination and as the only citizens of this Island who witnessed the geological formation of what would be Prince Edward Island.