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For immediate release , September 28th, 2021 Fredericton NB
Wabanaki 2021/ Yorkville Village Toronto - Opening reception October 14th @6-9 pm
Gallery on Queen, Bear Paw New Media Productions and JL Phillips Gallery are pleased to announce the upcoming exhibition “Wabanaki 2021 ” showcasing various Indigenous artists and mediums. We are proud to have this opportunity to feature works from so many East Coast Indigenous artists in the Wabanaki Territories of the Maritimes and Maine.
The Wabanaki people also known as the People of the dawn, are the easternmost tribes of Turtle Island, also referred to as Northeastern woodland tribes. Their culture and language have been in existence for over 10,000 years. Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqewik , Penobscot , Passamaquoddy and Abenaki are the member tribes. Tribes that have endured the longest and earliest contact with the new man on this continent.
There has never been a more extensive collection of works done by members of the Wabanaki tribes. The work of East Coast Indigenous artists tells the important story of the people most and longest affected by the arrival of the settlers. Wabanaki is a rare cornucopia of kept traditional and artistic knowledge infused with personal experiences of modern day. It is a testimony to the resilience of the people of the dawn living on the territory called Wabanaki.
We are overjoyed at the chance of showcasing The work of East Coast Indigenous artists in Yorkville, Toronto, in sponsorship with First Capital Reality. We will be participating in the annual Secret Path Week, which is a national movement commemorating the legacies of Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack, and takes place annually from October 17-22. This is a meaningful week as October 17th and 22nd respectively mark the dates that Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack joined the spirit world exhibition celebrates the heritage, the strength and the variety of forms that these artists create.
Wabanaki 2021 is a multidisciplinary exhibit that features accomplished indigenous artists in Atlantic Canada, the exhibit includes wood carvers, silversmiths, bead and quill works, also a body o work that from masters that have passed on.. included is a museum component where we exhibit baskets and tools that represent the connection from the past to the modern day artists.
Nadia Khoury, Curator/ Director 406 rue Queen Street, Fredericton, NB, E3B 1B6 galleryonqueen@gmail.com (506) 261-0655
Bear Paw New Media Productions Inc. is a very valuable entity in the delivery and promotion of the Mi’gmaq language and culture. Bear Paw believes that Aboriginal production has a significant impact in the lives of the Mi’gmaq people, its influence on the youth of the Mi’gmaq and the importance of preserving their unique and ancient language.
Brian J. Francis, Artist : bearpawmusic@hotmail.com
JL Phillips Gallery is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Specializing in highly curated thematic exhibitions that incorporate classic & historical ethnographic art with contemporary paintings & photography.
Jessica Lindsay Phillip - 24 Deer Parks Crescent, Toronto, Ontario, M4V 2C2, jessicalpdirect@gmail.com (416) 822-1635
Wabanaki Artists
Audrey Arseneault, Katie Augustine, Ingrid Brooks, Braelynne Cyr, Brian Francis, Frannie Francis, Tara Francis, Charlie Gaffney, Marcus Gosse, Emma Hassencahl-Perley, Tim Hogan, Shane Perley-Dutcher, Marie Fox, Chantal Polchies, Justin Sappier, Alan Syliboy, Garry Sanipass, Shane Pauline Young
(Iconic work from the Late Masters artists) : Ned Bear, Roger Simon
There has never been a more extensive collection of works done by members of the Wabanaki tribes.
The work of East Coast Indigenous artists tells the important story of the people most and longest
affected by the arrival of the settlers. Wabanaki is a rare cornucopia of kept traditional and artistic
knowledge infused with personal experiences of modern day. It is a testimony to the resilience of the
people of the dawn living on the territory called Wabanaki.
Ned Bear is a sculptor from the Wolistoqiyik First Nations Community in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Bear, inspired by a Native Elder carver as a young boy, received formal training at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design, where he became the first aboriginal student to graduate. Bear received additional training at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (now the First Nations University of Canada), the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and the University of New Brunswick, where he obtained a Bachelor of Education.
Bear creates sculpted masks and marble or limestone figure forms. His masks are approximately three feet high and are usually carved from butternut or yellow birch. Each mask is adorned with horse hair (symbolizing the free spirit), bear fur (symbolizing healing), and/or metal (symbolizing something which is of the earth). Each mask or “spirit helper” tells a story and offers a modern interpretation of traditional spiritual beliefs. When creating art, Bear considers himself to be simply a vehicle through which energy flows from the eternal Great Spirit to the medium he is using. He says: “I prepare no preliminary designs or sketches for any of my work...allowing the spirit to guide me, and the medium to speak on its own behalf.”
Ned Bear has made significant contributions as an instructor of Native art and culture, a curator, a guest speaker, and a juror. He has served as the Director of Education for Saint Mary’s First Nation and as a member of the New Brunswick Arts Board. In 2006, he won first prize at the prestigious Face the Nation competition at the UC Davis Design Museum.
Roger Simon was a Mi'kmaq artist from Elsipogtog First Nation. He studied at the George Brown College in Toronto, and continued at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in Fredericton. His work combined traditional and contemporary ideas where he painted the faces of people from Big Cove and other reserves that impressed him. His ideas stemmed from Mi'kmaq legends and stories from the Elders and he interpreted ideas from his culture in new ways. His inspiration came from the beauty of his people.
Simon's painting style was unique and his paintings are greatly appreciated by both the First Nations' and non-aboriginal communities. In 1995, one of his paintings, "The First Car on the Rez" (oil on paper, 1993), was selected by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's Fine Art program for a permanent exhibition of First Nations' art for the Canadian Embassy in Moscow, Russia .
Simon's work was displayed in several group and solo exhibitions and is found in various permanent public and corporate collections, while his murals remain on display in many Native organizations and at the Miramichi Hospital.
Roger Simon died in January, 2000. His death was a great loss to the Canadian art scene and for those who knew and loved him. His art will provide inspiration to others for many generations..
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Brian J. Francis of Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick is an accomplished director/writer and filmmaker. His major concern is the survival of the Mi’kmaq people and their culture. Brian is a Mi’kmaq language interpreter providing support to the general public as well as the parliament of Canada.
For many years, Brian has been involved in the arts, in music and visual art . Brian managed the Juno award-winning aboriginal recording artists, Eagle Feather. He was considered a pioneer in Aboriginal music production, bringing Native Music recording artists Eagle Feather to the Juno Awards. They were the first Aboriginal group to be nominated.
Since his entry into television Brian, has produced, directed, and written over 70 half hour documentaries along with two feature length documentaries.
His nature photographs are also very well appreciated and are the main subject of a publication entitled “ Between Two Worlds – Photographs and Spiritual Quotes by Brian J. Francis”. Brian maintains focused on his personal mission statement to “bring positive awareness of his people to mainstream Canada”. He spearheaded the development and production of the APTN series, Eastern Tide and Circle of Justice, which screened at 17 film festivals around the world, debuted at the Smithsonian Institute and aired on APTN, CBC and IFC. Brian then went on to direct The Sacred Sundance for National Film Board of Canada.
Brian’s paintings are mainly a reflection and depiction of his dreams and visions. Highly spiritual in nature and deep in texture and color. His paintings “come from” a different plane and often resonate with a deeply spiritually minded audience.
Alan Syliboy grew up believing that native art was generic. “As a youth, I found painting difficult and painful, because I was unsure of my identity.” But his confidence grew in 1972 when he studied privately with Shirley Bear. He then attended the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, where 25 years later, he was invited to sit on the Board of Governors. Syliboy looked to the indigenous Mi’kmaq petroglyph tradition for inspiration and developed his own artistic vocabulary out of those forms. His popularization of these symbolic icons has conferred on them a mainstream legitimacy that restores community pride in its Mi’kmaq heritage.
He has shown his work in numerous group and solo exhibits all over the world, from Europe to Japan, as well as in Canada and the United States. In 1999, he was commissioned to design a 22kt $200.00 gold coin for the Royal Canadian Mint. In 2009, he was selected to participate in the Vancouver 2010 Venues Aboriginal Art Program at the 2010 Winter Olympics in BC, Canada, for which he produced several unique projects including a ninety-six foot mural, a six-foot Coca Cola Bottle, as well as a fifteen foot sculpture, a collaborative work between he and nine other artists. Later that year, he had the opportunity to present a portrait of Grand Chief Membertou to Queen Elizabeth II on her 22nd visit to Halifax, NS. His 2010 Film, “Little Thunder”, an animated collaboration between Syliboy, Director Nance Ackerman and Animator Paton Francis has been screened at numerous Film Festivals, and received the Best Animation Film Award at the First Peoples Festival in Montreal. In 2010, he was short-listed for the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterwork Arts Award. In 2011 Alan launched “The Dream Canoe” Animation. In 2012 Alan was elected to the Board of Directors for the East Coast
Music Awards. Alan’s band Lone Cloud won the 2013 ECMA award for “Best Aboriginal Album”. Alan’s highlight from many other activities was his 2013 mural installation at the Halifax International Airport. In 2014 Alan’s Thundermaker exhibit was short-listed for the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Masterworks of Art Award.
Marie Fox is a figurative oil painter whose work combines traditional western techniques and iconography with ancestral mythologies and mysticism to create a contemporary narrative.
Marie’s subject matter is based on her own widely diverse peer group which ranges from the transgendered to the tattooed to the devout Buddhist to the Atheist. The paintings represent a noncommittal mysticism with echoes of religious iconography, intertwined with the raw spirit world of pagan lore and the infinite sprawl of the Internet. While the subjects are conveyed with the markings and social background of the modern world, they are expressed in the tradition of Western figurative painting (particularly that of the northern Gothic of 15th century Flemish art). Her models are stripped bare of time and space, their clothing for the most part, and placed in ambiguous backgrounds or sky-painted in moments of ecstasy, playfulness, purity and ferocity. In choosing to expose and share these personal moments and her theologies with the artist/ audience, the models are able to participate threefold. Her paintings convey the sensual, the erotic and the spiritual. They are more lively than the photographic, weaving together a conversation that resonates outside of time and space. She see them as tongue in cheek, a mix of raw sexual wildness, religious rapture and a removed, god-like detachment. Each painting leads intuitively into the next and lends itself to inclusivity, the breaking down of social barriers, and certainly to conversation. She works in the tradition of an earlier time, painting in oil on wood panels, using translucent layers of colour that echo gothic and renaissance styles. She seeks to weave together a conversation that resonates outside of time and space, darkness and light.
In 2016, Fox was awarded the Studio Watch Emerging Artists Series and presented her exhibition, ‘Ascend’, at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. Her current project, ‘Celestial Bodies’, was awarded a Creation Grant by ARTSNB and will debut as a solo exhibition in 2021 at Gallery on Queen. 'Celestial Bodies' will feature iconic Maritime landscapes and celestial skyscapes populated with figures that embody the earthly, the elemental and the otherworldly. Her work ‘Monument’ was featured in the 2020 Exhibition Materiality and Perception in Contemporary Atlantic Art: The 2019 Marion McCain Exhibition at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and was recently selected to 2019-2020 collectionArtNB Acquisitions (Aboriginal
Charlie Gaffney is a Wolastoqiyik Visual Artist and Mask Carver. He holds both a Masters Degree in Education, Bachelors Degree of Education from the University of New Brunswick and a Bachelor of Arts degree for St. Thomas University. His current studio practice combines mixed media techniques that are applied to his art works that reflects a sensitivity and knowledge of Aboriginal Culture. He’s been the recipient of Creation grants from the New Brunswick Arts Board for his Aboriginal Mask and Paddle creations. His artwork is represented in private and Canadian Government collections also, throughout Asia, Australia, England and the USA.
Pauline Young is a visual artist who was first exposed to the creative world through her father, Phillip Young, an internationally renowned artist, who painted the bottoms of her feet. She still recalls the smooth sensation of paint oozing between her toes. She draws her inspiration from him and the natural environment and is always looking down to see what the ground can offer, such as incorporating beach sand and red oxide sand into her paintings.
Justin Sappier is a Peskotomuhkati-Wolastoqey (Passamaquoddy-Maliseet) woodcarver who lives in Island View, New Brunswick. He uses his aboriginal arts and crafts, particularly woodcarving, to educate the world on Wabanaki (East Coast) aboriginal culture. Born in Perth Andover, but originally from the Passamaquoddy area, Justin carves to empower the local native culture and to bring it pride and recognition.
“I work with wood for the connection to Mother Earth. When I carve, the feel and the smell of the wood grounds me. The experience brings me closer to my roots and helps me understand the history of my people in a more personalized, experience-driven way. The ability of wood to be manipulated makes it a perfect medium to explore three-dimensional art. Being able to take a cut a log that would be thrown in a fire, and instead use it to create art is a way to reconnect our society with nature and to raise awareness of aboriginal history on the east coast.
Marcus Gosse is a Newfoundland Mi'kmaq Artist, and a member of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation Band in Newfoundland. Marcus' grandmother, Alice Maude Gosse (maiden name-Benoit), is a Mi'kmaq Elder, who was born and raised in Red Brook, NL (Welbooktoojech) located on the Port-Au-Port Peninsula. In 2005, Marcus was given his native name Papamikapow, which means "Traveler" (He who travels, not only physically, but, spiritually) from an Ojibway-Cree Elder from Sandy Lake First Nation, Ontario. Marcus incorporates the ancient Mi'kmaq Star, Mi'kmaq Petroglyphs, Hieroglyphs, and various double curve designs into the landscapes of his paintings.
In 2009, Marcus' painting titled, "Seeking Mi'kmaq Enlightenment" was exhibited in a group show by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax, and is now a part of their permanent collection. Since 2014, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery in Newfoundland has acquired four paintings titled, “Visions From A Sweat Lodge”, “Mi’kmaq Caribou (Qalipu) Soup”, “Shining Bright” (“Paqtasit”) - Brook Trout, and “Revival” (“Minua’latl”) which displays a Cultural Renaissance (rebirth) in Mi'kma'ki (Mi'kmaq Territory) through Mi’kmaq patterns and the eight point star. In 2017, Marcus was invited to participate, and exhibit 11 art pieces, in the Canada 150 Art Show at the Macaya Gallery in Miami, Florida. Marcus has participated in several art shows in Atlantic Canada, and his pieces have been sold to art collectors around the world.
Ingrid Brooks is Mi’kmaq from Indian Island First Nation, New Brunswick. She has completed her Native Studies at the College of Craft and Design in Fredericton. She completed the Basket Weaving program in 1993 and Mi'kmaq Porcupine Quill Art program in 1999.
With an interest in arts, an eye for detail, and a love for creativity, Ingrid started making quill art at a young age. Her pieces are inspired by her love of nature and ancient Mi’kmaq art. She practices the same art form as her ancestors did. Porcupine Quill Art has been around since time immemorial. The Mi’kmaq have been referred to as The Porcupine People.
Later in life she decided to apply quill art to fashions and created her satin dresses and gowns. Her first show was at the Indigenous Fashion Week Toronto 2018 and the following year she was invited to Paris Indigenous Fashion Week 2019.
In 2019 when the pandemic came she decided to try painting to keep herself busy. She fell in love with another art form.
Shane Perley-Dutcher combines inspiration from his indigenous heritage with modern soldering, engraving and hammering crafting pieces out of materials like silver at his home studio in Fredericton.
Perley-Dutcher recently won the sculpture category at the internationally-renowned Santa Fe Indian Market in New Mexico, with one of his traditional woven baskets.
“I've looked at their stuff for a long time, followed some of the artists that go there, and represented the highest and most prestigious show in the world that supported Indigenous artwork,” says Perley-Dutcher.
The award-winning artist credits his community and his mother with exposing him to Indigenous art at an early age.
“She was a single mother. She basically decided, with limited means, she was only able to get me involved with so many things,” says Perley-Dutcher.
His mother turned to friends, who were local artists, to educate and guide her son.
Though his art has drawn international acclaim, Perley-Dutcher says his biggest fans are his daughters. He hopes his work will teach them about their culture and also the importance of a strong work ethic.
“When you put so much work into one goal, to actually achieve it, it's an enriching experience,” he says.
Braelynne Cyr is a Mi’kmaq wampum beader and a published author and illustrator of aboriginal children’s books.
Wampum is the practice of traditional beading that records historical events and treaties through imagery. The beads are made from quahog shells and result in two possible colors: white and purple. One looms sinew and individually strings each bead, laying the beaded string across the loomed sinew and individually restrings each bead underneath to secure the string of beads to the loomed sinew. This process is repeated, resulting in a wampum belt.
As time has progress and our people have struggled under the heavy hand of colonization, I find it increasingly important to stay connected to my culture. Through imagery in beaded form, I make my social commentary. It is often easily understood by fellow aboriginals and encourages non-aboriginals to research and educate themselves on our history and art.
It is important for children to feel represented and have easy access to their culture. I feel this is a glaring issue for aboriginals in Canada. Because of this I write aboriginal children’s books to give back to my community in a positive manner. The books include traditional knowledge of culture and language in an accessible way to both aboriginal and non-aboriginal people.
My hope is to not only have my voice heard and spread education on the culture but to continue to pass it on to future generations. Reconciliation begins when we reclaim our culture.
Chantal Polchies grew up on the Woodstock First Nation reserve in New Brunswick, Canada. In 2014 she began her studies in the Aboriginal Visual Arts program at the New Brunswick Collage of Craft and Design.
She chose the AVA program because she was interested in Native history and wanted to learn more about her culture. In the AVA program Polchies learned how to work with bark, leather, and beading. After her foundation year in AVA she went into the Jewellery/Metal Arts program and learned how to make production work and show pieces.
Her inspirations come from nature, stories and her Aboriginal culture. After she graduated from Jewellery/Metal Arts in 2017 she came back for the Advanced Studio Practice at NBCCD and focused on self-direction with the assistance of her studio advisor and ASP teacher. During that time she taught herself chasing and repousse with some direction from her Studio Advisor. She now combines leather, beading, and metal together to express a story or feeling through her work.
Chantal’s work has been displayed in the All My People AVA student exhibition in 2015, the Sterling Jewellery/Metal Arts Student Annual Exhibition in 2016 and 2017, at Lieutenant Governor House and the 2018 Momentum Advanced Studio Practice exhibition. She was also the recipient of the 2017 Brilliant Award from the NBCCD Student Metalsmith Competition.
She is currently working on a line of earrings and pendants inspired by her mixed media belts.
Audrey Arsenault, Aud Metal, is a Mi’gmaq silversmith and jeweller. She works mainly with precious and semi-precious materials. In her work, she is influenced by her Wabanaki culture and its connection to nature, and the art style of contemporary. Arsenault is a recent graduate of the Advanced Studio Practice program at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design. She hopes to complete her Bachelor of Applied Arts at the University of New Brunswick this coming fall. Her goal is to become a teacher and bring arts and culture back to her hometown of Campbellton, NB.
Timothy Adam Hogan, also known as Timberwolf, has always been interested in art inspired by Mother Nature. He decided to pursue art as a career and chose to formalize his studies at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design in the Aboriginal Visual Arts Diploma program.Hogan is inspired by the dream realm, spiritual visions, his children but most of all Mother Nature. These influence the use of natural materials like wood ash, birch bark, porcupine quills in Hogan’s artwork. Porcupine quilling is an ancient Native American art used particularly among East Coast and Plains tribes. Aboriginal quillwork involved softening and dying stiff porcupine quills and weaving them onto leather or birchbark. Hogan obtains most of his materials from his backyard, local rivers and streams within the St John River (Wolastoq) system. His porcupine quills are harvested along the highways, honouring animals that have died. These ancient techniques connect him with past generations. Hogan likes to imagine walking the same paths as his ancestors once did. He believes in protecting nature and its resources so the next generations can also enjoy the beauty and bounty of Mother Nature.
Francine Francis is a Mi’kmaq visual artist from Metepenagiag First Nation, New Brunswick. She is influenced by her love of the land and the wild animals and she takes pride in her Mi’kmaq culture and continues to integrate the double-curve, porcupine quill design motifs along with Mi’kmaq language, petroglyphs and hieroglyphs in her work.
She received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Aboriginal Fine Arts from the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, now known as the First Nations University in Regina, Saskatchewan.
She has served as a Board member for the New Brunswick Arts Board, the New Brunswick Craft Council and served as a juror for the Canada Council and ArtsNB.
Most recently, Francine has participated in group exhibitions at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, “Materiality and Perception in Contemporary Atlantic Art”, 2019 -2020, “Everything is gonna be fine” 2019, Gallery on Queen, “Re/newal”, 2019. Past exhibitions at The McCains Gallery ,Florenceville, the Moncton and Saint John Museums, Artcadienne Gallery, Miramichi, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax and in Yarmouth, The Khyber Art Centre in Halifax, the Rosemont Gallery in Regina, Galerie Schloss Monchental in Germany and Deutsche Werkstaetten Hellerau, Dresden, Germany.
She has participated in Artist Residencies which include an Artist-in-School Residency at Metepenagiag Elementary School, the Metepenagiag Heritage Park, the Deanery Project “Path We Share” Artist Residency in Lower Ship Harbour, Nova Scotia and The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Yarmouth.
Her work is in permanent collections at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, The New Brunswick Art Bank, Fredericton, New Brunswick Museum in Saint John, NB., The Province of Saskatchewan, Regina, the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, Amherst, Nova Scotia, The Toronto Dominion Bank in Fredericton, The Metepenagiag Heritage Park and the New Brunswick Community College in Miramichi, The Department of Fishery and Oceans, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Emma Hassencahl-Perley is Wolastoqiyik (people of the beautiful, bountiful river), commonly known as Maliseet. Originally from Tobique First Nation, she currently resides Fredericton, and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Mount Allison University (’17). Emma's artwork explores themes of legislative identity, the truth about our shared history between Indigenous nations and the Settler state and society of Canada and her own identity as a Wolastoqiyik woman. Her art practice is rooted in painting and printmaking, however, in recent years she has shifted towards installation, beadwork, textiles and performance on top of her usual creation methods.
Emma Hassencahl is currently an emerging Curator at Beaverbrook Art Gallery
a Former Indigenous Affairs Coordinator at Mount Allison University specializing in painting and printmaking, puts a great amount of thought into creating pieces with many-layered messages. Hassencahl was also asked to be New Brunswick’s representative on a team of 13 artists from across the country who created a collaborative mosaic that was unveiled during the Winnipeg’s Nuit Blanche, an annual all-night celebration of contemporary art. The mosaic took the shape of the Canada 150 logo, with each artist contributing one block of the maple leaf.
Hassencahl is interested in law and is looking at possibly attending law school in the future, but also plans to go on to complete a Master’s in Fine Arts.
Garry Sanipass is an Aboriginal artist from the Bouctouche reserve. Born in November 1970 in New Brunswick, Canada.
He attended French elementary school in a small Acadian village known as Bouctouche, New Brunswick.
This need to communicate may have propelled his artistic interests. During his studies at the French school, he often dreamed of being an artist famous as one of his idols, Leonardo da Vinci. So, he spent a lot of time looking at and copying Renaissance Masters.
At the age of 19, Garry came across a book called "Andrew Wyeth: The Helga Pictures" and was inspired by the realism of the art and technique of Egg Tempura. Information on how to prepare this egg technique was sporadic and hard to come by in the 1980s.
His first solo art exhibition took place at the Marie Hélène Allain art gallery, the exhibition was titled: Masks, which was later featured in Created Here! Magazine
He was later featured in a group exhibit at Galerie du T’chai, Richibucto in 2021.
He was invited to create a performance video for FAVA (Caraquet, NB). Currently, he lives on the Bouctouche reserve in New Brunswick.
When in solitude, Garry tends to travel indoors and seeks out shadows to help him communicate with the outside world. With this Egg Tempera technique it requires many layers, Garry's work is also symbolically on many levels, as there are secret codes and puzzles to be solved.
“In “Left Brain, The Self, Past and Future,” I examine myself from my left brain. I focus on the details of who I am. I’m Mi’kmaq, so I include Mi’kmaq motifs, which I compare to binary, a language of mathematical equations.” Gary Sanipass
For thousands of years, my people, the Mi’kmaq, have lived in a mutual respect with these coastal lands, of Turtle Island, depending on the rich environment and resources to sustain our existence. Healthy forests, waterways, animals and fish being essential to our way of life. Our inherent connection to the land is the backbone to our physical, emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing. In just a few centuries, we have witnessed and been victim to the depletion and destruction of these resources, our Treaty rights being all but ignored and dismissed. I’ve created the pieces, in this series, to honour some of these precious resources: Jagej – Lobster, Tia'm - Moose, Plamu - Salmon as well as the Birch bark – Masgwi , Porcupine – Matues and collecting of the Sweet Grass – Msigue’get. These pieces are dedicated to those of us who are committed to standing up against the injustices and are working to preserve our way of life for the generations to come. A portion of the proceeds from this show will be donated to such causes. M’set no’kimaq (All my Relations) Oelaaliog
Tara Francis is from Elsipogtog, is a recognized Aboriginal artist in New Brunswick. She specializes in porcupine quill art and silk painting but also likes working with 3-dimensional pieces.
After graduating from High School , Tara received a bursary for art and an Aboriginal creation grant that became a pivotal moment in her career.
Tara practices the traditional technique of porcupine quill work but she doesn’t create traditional pieces.
Traditional creations would consist of baskets, cradles, geometric patterns, berets, etc. Tara puts her own touch on traditional porcupine quill work by thinking outside of the box. For example, one of her proudest creations is ‘the moth’ which took over 100 hours of work to complete. “I like to see what I can do with the traditional materials and take it to a new level as far as the artwork that I come up with,” Tara explained. Tara’s art speaks to others because of her ability to dig deep into her own spirituality and apply it to her art. “New themes and images come to me with more spiritual moments and ceremonies I attend. They are all a part of the ride,” said Tara. “My connection with nature plays a big part of my practise “
There are no upcoming events at this time.