Audrey Arsenault
$10, 000 Triptych
24” Round, Copper on Birch
“My personal mission was to create a healing series of works that speak to those who feel lost in their cultural identity journeys. This is a huge modern-day issue that spans across all cultures. The child, TU’S, has minimal ties to their Indigenous family. She is either adopted or was raised without Indigenous knowledge. The young mother, GIJU’, is actively expanding her community and seeking information about her ancestors’ ways of life. Her growing connection gives her blossoming contentment and purpose. The grandmother, NUGUMIJ, flourishes in her Indigenous knowledge. She desires to guide the younger generations, helping them find their identity as Indigenous people. This is how our culture is still thriving and resilient after many hardships over the centuries. The relationship that we have with our elders is reciprocal. We depend on them to teach us the traditional way, and they need us to carry our culture forward into the future. Using the ancient metalsmithing technique of chasing and repoussé, I hand formed each of their faces, hair and botanical elements from copper. Their bodies are weaved and formed from recycled copper wire. The double-curve copper wire motifs get progressively ornamental with the age of the subjects to reflect the progression of their journeys. I consulted with my Mi’gmaq grandfather for their titles, of which I then chased onto copper nameplates for each.” -Audrey Arsenault
Taqawan (Young Salmon) - 11” x 30.5”, copper, pine wood
$2500
Reconciliation - Raised Sterling Silver, Chrysoprase Stone, Maple Wood, Blue Jay Feathers
$4000
Ethnocide - SOLD to CollectionArtNB 2022/23 acquisition. Copper, Chasing and Repousse, Maple wood, leather
Na'gu'set - SOLD to CollectionArtNB for their 2022/23 acquisition. Chased Copper, Sterling Silver, Leather, Maple Wood
Audrey Arsenault, Aud Metal, is a Mi’gmag silversmith and jeweller. She works mainly with precious and semi-precious materials. In her work, she is influenced by her Wabanaki cultures’ beliefs, story of resilience, and minimalist style. Arsenault graduated in 2021 from the Advanced Studio Practice program at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. She is a 2023 graduate of the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton with a degree in Applied Arts. In 2021 and 2022, Arsenault’s work was shown in the “Wabanaki Exhibition” in the Yorkville Village of Toronto, Ontario, led by Gallery on Queen.
In 2022 Arsenault’s work was part of Gallery on Tour/Tata, a collaboration between Gallery on Queen in Fredericton, NB, and the Ice House Gallery in Tatamagouche, NS.
She was also part of the Beneath the Surface artist residency in Fundy National Park in 2022, with a following exhibition outdoors on the park grounds in the summer of 2023. Arsenault’s works, “Ethnocide” (2021) and “Na’gu’set” (2022) have been selected for the 2023 acquisition to the Provincial art collection, CollectionArtNB.
“Preserving themes from my Mi’gmag cultures’ beliefs and story of resilience is of great importance to me. Through the ancient metalsmithing technique of chasing and repoussé, I hammer these age-old essential narratives and cultural teachings into copper, pushing them into the present day with each hammer blow. I choose to work mainly with copper because of its malleability, I can easily manipulate it into speaking the narratives that I need it to. My work adds to the discussion of world issues that surround the preservation of Indigenous ways of knowing, of nature and food sources that have kept my culture living well since the time of creation.”