Indigenous arts

This week’s Work of the Week is Sunset on Boot Hill by Delia Cross Child.

Cross Child’s acrylics, such as Sunset on Boot Hill, are stunning evocations of colour that might be mistaken as psychedelic by anyone who had never witnessed the rolling prairies of southern Alberta. Her landscape scintillates with reds, ambers, and blues that rise like smoke into a sky aflame.
 

About the Artist: Delia Cross Child

Delia Cross Child is a Blood and Peigan artist and teacher who fuses historical and contemporary art traditions of Turtle Island and Europe to inspire her communities and educate the public about First Nations issues.

Born in Pincher Creek and raised in an one-child family on the Peigan Reserve at Brocket, Cross Child was fascinated by the landscape and its changing seasons, whose mountain-view hills and Old Man River valley she explored with her parents and siblings. The experiences became foundational to her later paintings; she describes “a performance… of ever-changing colour, sight, and sound” that was “only a part of the territory that… the Blackfoot Confederacy… had occupied for a long time. [It was] a place of solace during the times when my world appeared to be chaotic and confusing,” a world whose legacy included the mass-trauma of forced assimilation, residential schools, and “hunger, sadness, and abuse.”

Cross Child later attended the University of Lethbridge where she earned her B.A. in Art and Native American Studies (1996) and her B.Ed. in Art (2002). To motivate her students at Kainai High School on the Blood Reserve near Standoff, Alberta, she integrated traditional visual literacy into her teaching

Cross Child’s work has been exhibited at the Glenbow Museum, Walter Phillips Gallery, and Southern Alberta Art Gallery, and lives in the public collections of the University of Lethbridge, the Blood Tribe Administration, and the Glenbow Museum. Cross Child has received several academic and art awards, including membership in the University of Lethbridge’s Alumni Honour Society (2009), the Blackfoot Fine Arts Award (2008), and the Gerald Tailfeathers Art Scholarship (1996).

This week’s Work of the Week is Mind Over Matter by renowned Indigenous artist Alex Janvier.

This past Wednesday, September 30, was Orange Shirt Day – a day to honour residential school survivors and victims. In Alberta, there are about 12,000 residential school survivors and their families, including Alex Janvier.

About the Artist: Alex Janvier

Alex Janvier was born on the Le Goff Reserve, Cold Lake First Nations, Alberta, in 1935. He was raised in the Chipewyan tradition until he attended the Blue Quill Residential Indian School at the age of eight.

Janvier graduated with Honours from the Alberta College of Art in 1960 and since then has built an international reputation as a painter, muralist and printmaker. He has influenced a younger generation of native artists through his paintings and advocacy work with arts organizations and land claim committees.
 

His imagery is a combination of traditional native decorative motifs such as medicine wheels, floral designs and symbolic colour combinations. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, his work became more representational and concerned with specific social and political issues.

Janvier has been the recipient of many accolades throughout his career. Since 2007, he has received honourary doctorates from both the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta, was appointed to the Order of Canada, received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts and was the first ever recipient of the Marion Nicoll Visual Arts Award from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Alex Janvier continues to live and work in Cold Lake.

In honour of Métis Week (November 15-21), this week’s Work of the Week is Making Faces by Métis artist Heather Shillinglaw.
 

About the Artist: Heather Shillinglaw

Heather Shillinglaw graduated in 1996 from the Alberta College of Art and Design (now the Alberta University of the Arts).

Her mixed-media work explores the bridging of cultures as she has experienced it as a Métis woman and as a traveler to other territories and countries. She is intrigued by the "similarities and differences" between cultures, something that her own heritage allows her to access more readily. In 1993, Heather partnered with National Film Board and Women of the Métis Nation using a film Daughter of the Country Series to create new works.

She is represented in numerous public, private and corporate collections and is an active member of several Métis organizations including Women of the Métis Nation. She has exhibited extensively around Alberta over the past ten years.

This week’s Work of the Week is Ancestor by Indigenous artist Florence Shone.

About the Artist: Florence Shone

Florence Shone is a mother of two and self-taught artist who uses acrylic and canvas as her medium.
 

She is originally from the Piikani Nation in southern Alberta, but has resided in Edmonton most of her life. She has a degree in Native Studies from University of Alberta in Edmonton. 

Shone says that she has always been an artist. She began drawing at an early age, but it was only when she was almost finished university that she took an art class and learned that painting allows her to visually express and release her emotions onto canvas. Subjects include Blackfoot people from archival photographs, portraiture, landscape work and other intuitively created pieces.

She regularly participates in local exhibitions in Alberta and has had work on display at the Royal Alberta Museum.

This year, National Indigenous Peoples Day also coincides with Summer Solstice on June 21. It is a great way to celebrate the unique culture and achievements of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples of our country.
 

During National Indigenous Peoples Day and June's National Indigenous History Month, explore:

• amazing artwork by Indigenous artists in the AFA's collection
• upcoming events throughout the province
• resources and events across Canada

About the artwork:

Poitras enjoys working in a variety of media including painting and mixed media collages that incorporate historical and contemporary symbols, newspaper clippings, and painted elements. In her work, 'Legacy of a Liberated Culture', she uses mixed media to create a colorful collage to highlight her diverse culture.

View the artwork in Augmented Reality. And click on the pink 'AFA virtual museum' below to discover other artworks by Poitras from 1984 to 2019.

About the Artist:

Jane Ash Poitras was born in the northern Alberta Cree community of Fort Chipewyan. Even though it was recommended for her to pick another career, as it was perceived it would be impossible to make a living as an artist, her resiliency helped her achieve a successful career. 

She has garnered her many accolades and achievements through her career, including being a recipient of:

• the Alberta Centennial Medal (2005)
• Order of Canada (2007)
• Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award (2011).

Image description

Multi-color images of an Indigenous person wearing a black and red feathered head dress, brown dog-like animal, yellow and red bird-like animal, black and red and turquoise abstract faces, and various black and white historic symbols. Four tipis with various colors including brown, yellow, whilte, red, green, blue and pink are at the bottom of the painting.

June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada – a time to recognize the history, heritage and diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada. Each June, the AFA honours and elevates Indigenous artists sharing selected artworks and their profiles from our collection as our Works of the Week.
 

This week’s Work of the Week is “Magpie” by Bruno Canadien.

About the Artist: Bruno Canadien

Born and raised in Denendeh in the Northwest Territories, Bruno Canadien is Dene (of mixed heritage) and a member of the Deh Gah Got’ı́é Kǫ́ę́ First Nation, a Deh Cho Region member of the Dene Nation. He now lives in southern Alberta, the traditional territory of the Blackfoot, Tsuu T’ina and Nakoda.

Bruno majored in painting and earned a Diploma from the Alberta College of Art (now the Alberta University of the Arts) in 1993. His pieces have been shown in solo exhibitions in Okotoks, Black Diamond and Calgary, and in group exhibitions in Calgary, Banff, Red Deer, Fort McMurray and Grande Prairie.

Through his work, Bruno address issues critical to First Nations peoples, including sovereignty, natural resources, environmental preservation and the oil and gas industries treatment of the land and its people. His collages, paintings and drawings and other pieces reflect his respect for his heritage and his passion for bringing important issues to the forefront. Through the language of art, Bruno is communicating the need for national attention.

May 5 is Red Dress Day, a national day for honouring missing and murdered Indigenous peoples. It is a day to raise awareness and education about missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit people and men.
 

On the day, people across North America hang red dresses in private and public spaces to remember missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex and asexual plus people in solidarity with family members and loved ones.

In honour of Red Dress Day, we are featuring two artworks by Faye HeavyShield from the AFA Art Collection: red dress and blood.

• click the arrow icons ( < or > ) above to scroll through images

Additional information about blood

The sculpture featured above is one component of a larger installation entitled blood. The installation reflected on Faye HeavyShield's ancestry and identity. 

The diverse elements of the installation included:

• drawings composed directly on the gallery walls
• a solid 3-dimensional rectangular form painted red and covered in miniature cloth red bundles
• the installation of string and red cloth bundles (featured)

These elements depicted the inseparability of the past and the present, and the communal and the personal. The installation explored memory, especially the ritualized and repetitive acts to preserve it.

In the words of the artist:

“My parents blessed me with language, kindness, and strength, my brothers and sisters taught me loyalty, my children give me hope. This is blood.”

About the Artist: Faye HeavyShield

Faye HeavyShield is a member of the Blood Nation.

She graduated from the Alberta College of Art (now the Alberta University of the Arts) in 1985 and continued her studies at the University of Calgary.

Gaining prominence and recognition over the past 20 years, her work has been the subject of many solo shows, including major exhibitions of First Nations contemporary art. Her work is featured in collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, as well as the AFA Art Collection. She was one of three artists selected to receive the 2021 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award in 2021.

In April 2022, it was announced that HeavyShield was the winnter of the $75,000 Gershon Iskowitz Prize at the Art Gallery of Ontario. This annual award recognizes an artist who has made outstanding contributions to Canadian visual arts. 

HeavyShield's work is a fusion of highly evolved personal and powerful imagery influenced by her Christian and Blood upbringing. Her minimalist installations are metaphors of the human body and a reflection of her personal experiences.

Image descriptions

red dress - A bright red dress is hung on a black mannequin stand facing front toward the viewer. The dress has mid-length sleeves splaid to each side, a smal V in the neckline, and a simple seam between bodice and skirt. Across the chest of the bodice are two lines of large white metal and paper tags that hang from a line of glass beads. 

blood - A long column of approximately 30 red strings hang from a ceiling in a gallery space, with hundreds of red cloth bundles tied to each string. Where the column of string meets the cement floor, the strings are laid out to spread away from the centre to create a kind of web around the column.

Strange Jury #2 asks the viewer to challenge their perspectives by seeing nature through a different lens. The artwork is intended to depict a trial in the forest. The viewer is the defendant. The jury is Nature.

This artwork is part of a series of five works. When installed in a gallery, five giant prints are hung in a circle off the ground to depict five characters of the forest with animistic faces. The AFA acquired one of these prints through the Art Acquisitions by Application to be a part of the AFA Art Collection.
 

About the artist

Dwayne Martineau is an Edmonton based visual artist and musician. He is a treaty member of Frog Lake First Nation, descended from Plains Cree, Métis, and early French and Scottish settlers.

He enjoys seeing the world like a child full of discovery. Also, he approaches the world with a critical mind, seeking both truth and wonder. His visual arts practice began with experimental landscape photography, and has evolved to include videography and immersive large-scale art installations.

Art Acquisitions by Application

The next deadline for the AFA’s Art Acquisition by Application program is April 1! Read the guidelines if you’re interested in submitting your artwork to have it be considered for acquisition to the AFA Art Collection.

Image description

The artwork is an abstracted photograph on backlit film that suggests an animistic creature in a forest. A black, insect-like face with large antennae floats on a faded yellow background, with black trees and bushes in the background. 

This week’s Work of the Week is Wisdom Trail by acclaimed Indigenous artist Alex Janvier in honour of the master artist’s birthday, which was this past Sunday on February 28!

Happy to birthday to Mr. Janvier!
 

About the Artist: Alex Janvier

Alex Janvier was born on the Le Goff Reserve, Cold Lake First Nations, Alberta, in 1935.

He was raised in the Chipewyan tradition until he attended the Blue Quill Residential Indian School at the age of eight. Janvier graduated with Honours from the Alberta College of Art in 1960 and since then has built an international reputation as a painter, muralist and printmaker. He has influenced a younger generation of native artists through his paintings and advocacy work with arts organizations and land claim committees.

Janvier's imagery is a combination of traditional native decorative motifs such as medicine wheels, floral designs and symbolic colour combinations. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, his work became more representational and concerned with specific social and political issues.

Janvier has been the recipient of many accolades throughout his career. Since 2007, he has received honourary doctorates from both the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta, was appointed to the Order of Canada, received a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts and was the first ever recipient of the Marion Nicoll Visual Arts Award from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Alex Janvier continues to live and work in Cold Lake.