TAMARA LEE-ANNE CARDINAL, DAN CARDINAL MCCARTNEY, LAURA GRIER, AND SARAH HOULE
Arrivals
June 29 - August 4, 2018
dc3 Art Projects; 10567 111 Street, Edmonton, AB
Opening Reception and Curator's Talk: June 29, 2018, 6:30pm at dc3 Art Projects
Sarah Houle, The Girls; inkjet on photo rag paper; 2017.
A major aspect of Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective’s mandate is to support emerging artists and to help introduce them and their work to new audiences in and around Edmonton. The collective is excited to present to work of four emerging artists in Arrivals, curated by Ociciwan in partnership with dc3 Arts Projects. The work of these four incredible artists showcases the innovation and variability present in Indigenous contemporary art. Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal, Laura Grier, Sarah Houle, and Dan Cardinal McCartney each bring to this exhibition an original perspective on issues of family, care, connectedness to people and the land. The relationships built through the curatorial process links to these themes as we build connections through mentorship, care, and support of these artists.
Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal is a multimedia artist, community activist, oskâpêwis, and lifelong learner. Born and raised in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, she currently lives in Treaty 7 territory within Mohkínstsis (Calgary). Cardinal traces her ancestral roots back to both Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6 and the once German occupied lands of Ukraine. The artist currently works within the urban Indigenous community as a Child Support Worker through Awo Taan Healing Lodge offering creative programming to families seeking shelter from domestic violence. Her artwork continues to be a reflection of the teachings she receives along her journey, inviting all people to become a part of the process. Cardinal’s installation, Ekosi (2017) reflects on the interconnectedness of community and Indigenous knowledge systems. While engaging Indigenous knowledge systems, Cardinal’s installation investigates practices of care and intentional strategies of community building.
Laura Grier is a Deline First Nation printmaker, born in Yellowknife, based currently in Edmonton, Alberta. In 2015, Grier graduated with a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Fine Arts degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Halifax. Having grown up away from traditional lands, Grier tries to find ways to revitalize Indigenous culture and knowledge by using traditional print mediums. Their art is inspired by the vitality of Indigenous art practices and is grounded in Indigenous worldviews and lived experiences. In Arrivals, Grier’s prints of deformed fish, part of an ongoing series, explores relationships to ecology and environmentalism within the contexts of Indigenous land rights and dialogues surrounding Water Protectors. Also included in the exhibition are large scale woodcut prints titled Edmonton and Banff(2018). These works speak to the artist's lived experience of each city and town, working through the ecological destruction of each place with overtones of humour and satire. Below the prints are the blocks the artist hand-carved, making clear the amount of labour behind the sardonic prints.
Sarah Houle is a multidisciplinary, Métis artist based in Calgary, AB from the Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement in Northern Alberta. Her work is autobiographical with an interest in technology, fantasy, and craft. Cultural identity in the age of digital technology is important in her work, as elements of physical and digital space come together to conjure nostalgic imagery. Modern day fantastical legends express the artists social commentary on identity from the perspective of Métis culture and heritage. Houle’s photographic series, Girls follows her nieces as they grow. She captures the everyday, elevating the importance of family through the documentation of love, intimacy and family. The mundanity of the images demystifies contemporary Indigeneity, debunking stereotypes and rebuking the colonial expectations of performing Indigeneity. Centering family, Houle’s work showcases the resiliency present in everyday Indigenous life.
Dan Cardinal McCartney graduated from the Alberta College of Art + Design in 2016. His maternal family is from Fort Chipewyan, Alberta and was raised in Fort McMurray. His maternal blood lines are a proud mix of Cree, Chipewyan, and Métis. As a two spirit, transmasculine person, McCartney sifts through questions of blood memory and inter- generational trauma. Gender dysphoria, combined with cultural diaspora, leaves gashes to either remain open or to be scabbed over in time. McCartney’s film, Mothering Myself (Cramps) (2018) is a continuation of his previous film works. The artist uses the medium of experimental, diary-like film to explore concepts of dysphoria,diaspora, and familial relationships through the lens of transmasculinity and Indigeneity.
The works included in Arrivals communicates the variegation of contemporary Indigenous art. What ties each of the artists varied practices together is the concept of relationships; relationship to self, family, community and land. Cardinal McCartney, Grier, Houle, and Cardinal share stories unique to each of their experience. Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective is committed to supporting the work of Indigenous contemporary artists, and by offering a platform to emerging artists, we are collaborating to ensure the survivance of contemporary critical dialogue within the land now known as Edmonton.
CURATOR'S TALK
June 29, 2018—June 29, 2018, 630pm at dc3 Art Projects, Edmonton
Arrivals celebrates the contributions of four emerging Alberta based Indigenous artists who are already making waves in the contemporary Alberta art scene. Please join us on Friday, June 29 at dc3 Art Projects for a free opening reception and Curator's talk with Core Members Jade Nasogaluak Carpenter and Erin Sutherland.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Tamara Lee-Anne Cardinal is a multimedia artist, community activist, oskâpêwis, and lifelong learner. Born and raised in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, she currently lives in Treaty 7 territory within Mohkínstsis (Calgary). Tamara traces her ancestral roots back to both Saddle Lake Cree Nation in Treaty 6 and the once German occupied lands of Ukraine. Having graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in Sculpture, from the Alberta College of Art + Design in 2015, Tamara has since been a recipient of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts 2017 Young Artists Award, as well as the National BMO Art! Competition Award for her graduating work Back into the Earth: Creation and the Interpretation of Meaning, which speaks to her core interests in community, family history, and our human connection with Mother Earth. Tamara attended the 2016 Indigenous Visual + Digital Arts Residency in Banff, Alberta where she created Akohp: A Blanket, most recently featured in the 2017 Alberta Biennial at the Art Gallery of Alberta. Tamara currently works within the urban Indigenous community as a Child Support Worker through Awo Taan Healing Lodge offering creative programming to families seeking shelter from domestic violence. Her artwork continues to be a reflection of the teachings she receives along her journey, inviting all people to become a part of the process.
Dan Cardinal McCartney graduated from the Alberta College of Art + Design in 2016. His maternal family is from Fort Chipewyan, Alberta and was raised in Fort McMurray. His maternal blood lines are a proud mix of Cree, Chipewyan, and Métis. As a two spirit, transmasculine person, Dan sifts through questions of blood memory and inter- generational trauma. Gender dysphoria, combined with cultural diaspora, leaves gashes to either remain open or to be scabbed over in time.
Laura Grier is a Deline First Nation Printmaker, born in Yellowknife, who currently resides in Edmonton, Alberta. In 2015, Grier graduated with a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Fine Arts degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in Halifax. Having grown up away from traditional lands, Laura tries to find ways to revitalize Indigenous culture and knowledge by using traditional print mediums. Laura’s art is inspired by the vitality of Indigenous art practices and is grounded in Indigenous worldviews and lived experiences.
Sarah Houle is a multidisciplinary, Métis artist based in Calgary, AB and is from the Paddle Prairie Métis Settlement in Northern Alberta. Her work is autobiographical with an interest in technology, fantasy, and craft. Cultural identity in the age of digital technology is important in her work, as elements of physical and digital space come together to conjure nostalgic imagery. Modern day fantastical legends express the artists social commentary on identity from the perspective of Métis culture and heritage.
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This project was produced with the support of the Edmonton Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays.
