For my final project, I chose to make a dress with photos that I have taken myself throughout the years of my travelling Canada and the U.S. The dress is a dark red representing the traditional paint we use in ceremonies, giving our tribal name the Bloods. The ribbon I used for the clothing was more blue tones different from the red. When looking at the photos on the dress, you can see that most images are pictures of water. I attached the images to the dress by hand sewing the photos onto bias tape, leaving a piece on each side of the images to be accessible to connect to the clothing.
This dress was a carry on from my last project in the class of Indigenous Art Studio, where I created a short four-minute film of the land and where I come from. The video was called “Nookooaa”, meaning my home in the Blackfoot Language. I wanted to create something physical to the video, which gave me the idea of making a ribbon dress with my newfound interests in film and photography. These pictures are from photos I have taken throughout the years of travelling. I chose these photos because I should bring more attention to water if life. There have been issues with getting clean drinking water on reserves in Canada for a long time, with most being on water boiling advisory for over ten plus years. I also wanted to bring attention to the recent events with big oil companies and how they are running pipelines on Indigenous land without permission from the tribal leaders. The recent one is Wet’suwet’en First nation. I wanted to bring attention to this because news media completely ignores Indigenous tribes. This dress should show how vital water is and its importance to Indigenous people.

About Savannah

My name is Savannah Delaney-Wolf Child. My Blackfoot name is I’tsstsimanaki (Stubborn Girl). My Crow name is Biakklishta Baaeetitchish (Young Talented Woman). I come from the Blood reserve located in Southern Alberta, Canada. I am the oldest child of my parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. I am currently in my third year at the University of Lethbridge on the path of the degree of Indigenous Art Studio, hoping to graduate my fourth year and do my MFA across the seas. I come from a family of dancers and singers who travel around Canada and the United States to different powwows and rodeos. For that, I have been dancing since I could walk. Since I was small, Art has been one of my passions and counited into what I want to keep doing in my career, with one of the first artworks I did being shown in one of Banff’s galleries in the summer of 2019. With painting and sculpting, I was also taught to sew and bead. I was introduced to sewing by my great-grandmother by first making ribbon skirts and then sewing making my way to jingle dresses. My final project was the first time I had ever sewn a dress without the help of my grandma. I was also taught to bead with sewing, which is one of my other big passions.

The Baumtree
2021
Tree/Wood, acrylics, ribbons and sound
Click here for video of performance

The Baumtree is a form of self-portrait. It symbolizes my identity, from my roots, my past, to the present. The work also encompasses my future, as the tree is alive, just like I am alive, and will grow. The title plays on my bilingualism with “Baum” meaning tree, connecting to the duality of my German and Canadian sense of home. The topics of the Indigenous Art Studio course have made me reflective of my ancestry, my culture’s traditions, where I came from and where I am now. These topics included knowledge transfer, tradition and origin stories which encouraged self-reflection and rethinking. Prior to this course, I was avoiding these cultural parts of myself and getting uncomfortable whenever I was asked about where I was from.

The project is based on a German spring tradition, the “Maibaum” tradition, where a tree trunk is decorated with coat of arms and wreaths and put up in the middle of a town at the beginning of May. My performance of arranging the branches and hanging up the paintings onto the tree creates a connection to this tradition. For this, I bought a tree the same height as me that I lived with for a few weeks. I cut off most of the branches, only leaving the top part natural. For the performance, I drove the tree to the universities’ bus loop, carrying it for a short distance but then decided to drag it through the snow downhill. I set the tree up on campus so that Lethbridge’s coulee scenery was in the background, creating a link to where I am now. The first part of this performance was accompanied by sound, specifically the part of the performance that symbolizes my ancestry and my life in Germany. The sound is my father’s voice who was sharing stories of ancestors and his childhood in the German language via a video chat. These stories are then supported by chordal progressions that I connect with the story.

I attached ribbons onto the branches. On each of which, I wrote a female ancestors’ name (first name and birthname) and their birth year: my mother, my grandmothers, great-grandmothers and one great-great grandmother who was mentioned in one of the stories. It was important to me to use their birth names, as these have been erased through the patriarchal way last names were transferred. As a further emphasis of my “roots”, I dug out some of the dirt in which the tree is located, exposing the literal roots of the tree. Lastly, each of the six paintings on wooden squares represents a home - a place that I have lived in. The paintings are either a coat of arms (which is only used for my first home, the only German home), the natural scenery of a place or an emotional feeling that I connect with my time spent in that home. These paintings symbolize my life journey and growth, with the home closest to my roots at the bottom of the tree trunk moving upwards in chronological order - the same direction the tree is growing in.

About Annika

I was born in Germany and grew up in the town of Metzingen, where I often was more interested in exploring and travelling than connecting to my own home and ancestors. At the age of 18, I decided to move to Canada where I have lived ever since, and only recently started to reflect on where I am from. However, this isn’t the first time I’d lived in Canada. I temporarily lived in Canmore, Alberta at the age of 15 as an international student for six months, which led to my decision to migrate to Canada three years later. Currently, I reside in Lethbridge and am a fourth-year music major at the University of Lethbridge. My specialty is music performance with the clarinet and the piano in the genre of Western Art music. I have been learning the clarinet for the past 14 years and piano for 6 years, having regular performances of solo and ensemble and orchestral repertoire since my teenage years.

My experience in visual arts prior to taking this course has been limited to some acrylic paintings and photography. The theme of connection to nature and the integration of natural materials is present throughout most of my works, such as rocks, tree branches, or sand. Over the past few months, I have discovered my interest for three-dimensional art works and especially the combination of two-dimensional and three-dimensional elements. I feel especially drawn to dioramas as they are an effective way for me to express my ideas and tell a story. I’ve used this technique to discuss current Indigenous issues, such as the reconciliation of Western and Indigenous relations. Another common topic is my own identity, including my own immigrant experience. I’ve also been experimenting with new mediums and skills like clay, woodworking or weaving while also integrating skills in which I already have some experience in, such as acrylic paint.

Inni (buffalo) Desk, a look into the future
2021
desk from residential school, acrylic paint

For my project I restored an old residential school desk that had been sitting outside my house for the past 15 years; furthermore, this project has an immense personal meaning to the me. The desk was obtained from the St. Mary’s residential school where my grandmother worked as a custodian for decades. She had taken the desk home, perhaps with the thought of restoring it or just simply keeping it for her personal use as a seamstress. My grandmother was a hard worker who raised 10 kids of her own in Blackfoot country not to mention the many grandchildren that she also raised, me being one of them. We never went without anything because of her work ethic, her love, and dedication to her children. Unfortunately, we lost her to old age this past spring and it was a sad time for our family; we appreciated that she lived a long, beautiful life, to the tender age of 91 years old. I remember the days of her pushing me to get to school and always reminding me to be busy with time.
I choose the desk as an art project because of the importance of remembering the children that were lost and a part of the residential school systems of Canada. My mother was a part of the residential school systems and has told me a couple narratives of her times as a student. I always remember asking my elders about these schools and remember always having that feeling of sadness and anger when the conversations were over. Residential school was a time of despair and sadness for my people, but our resilient nature has got us through these trying times.
The project was perfect for the class theme of today’s Indigenous plight. The impacts of the residential schools have come to light brighter and stronger then ever before. The discovery of the hundreds or perhaps thousands of children that had perished in the hands of the schools fits perfectly with the meaning behind the desk. Secondly, this project connects to the Ikaisskini project of showcasing items from the past that hold importance to the Blackfoot people. In a sense the desk can be seen as a relic of the past and refurbishing it can be seen as taking back what should have been ours. The desk represents the buffalo which was key to our survival before contact with Europeans.; our new buffalo is education which now must play a key role of our future. The desk was in despair and broken but with a little hard work it was revived for a new beginning.
The major challenge for this work was taking it apart carefully and refurbishing into something useful again. The desk looked as if it was unrepairable and I almost worked with it from a different angle, such as painting it like a buffalo and running it off the cliffs or shooting it with my bow. This sounded interesting to do, but I figured honouring the desk in a new way was the best approach considering the act of reconciliation. Our people need to heal in a new way and move on towards a better life. I would like people, when viewing this piece of work, to think of the impact of the residential schools on our people. I say our people because it has impacted all of us who call themselves Canadian. The impacts are tangible and intangible.

About Siikimiikatopii

Oki my Blackfoot name is Siikimiikatopii (Black Horse Rider) and my colonized name is Cody Wells, and I am from the Kainai people of the Blackfoot Confederacy. My profession is in business and construction, I’ve been an electrician in the trades for years before I decided to go back to school and receive a degree in business. As an electrical contractor I’ve seen the need for more business skills and lack of appropriate business ethics on our reserve. I wish to address and help alleviate these problems that plague our reserve. My passion involves art, it always has, and I remember drawing in class and getting into trouble for it and had never dreamed of being apart of a university class. My major accomplishment is seeing my three kids grow, and I have received numerous sport accomplishments through rodeo, football, hockey, and golf. In my work career I have received my Journeyman Electrician Certificate, Masters Licence as an electrician, Valedictorian from Red Crow College, and currently I am in my 4th year as a Bachelor of Management-First Nations Governance Degree at the University of Lethbridge.
Art has helped me with creativity in my studies and has certainly shaped the way I approach life.

Five Course
2021
video collection
Click here for videos of performance
Artist's blog

This project was an expansion upon my Knowledge Transference artwork, which was also a video performance. I wanted to see how I could make it bigger and how personal I was willing to make it. Being absurd and uncomfortable was another point I was wanting to make. The project did end up being very personal because I was the one filming, being filmed, cooking, serving, eating, editing, and the only one standing up to present my videos. This accumulated into the videos being very uncomfortable to watch and turning it into a private experience. This was prevalent while I was eating and just staring at the camera with dead silence filling the dark showing room. Filming was also very intimate even though everybody eats and shares meals. I was alone in my apartment just staring back at myself on my computer sharing this meal with myself.

I thought about the topics we covered in class and which ones felt the most personable to me, Origin Stories and Knowledge Transference being the ones that stuck out. In this work I ‘shared’ my recipes with the audience and shared my meals as well. I also shared my relationship with food which is complicated and has not been shared with many people in my life. Being anemic and the symptoms that come with it have been the main problems I've had to deal with. Now I am also living away from home and the set meals my mom would have ready for after school. This independence is really nice but challenging to adapt to sometimes, especially regarding food. One of the symptoms I get from low iron is that I will lose my appetite and not get the hunger cues that I should eat. Dealing with this when I already have a scattered schedule with school has been challenging and this project really brought this challenge to life. Even knowing the signs and symptoms for 10+ years, I still sometimes don’t realize the signs that my iron is getting low. This whole project ended up being very cathartic and helped me think about some other ideas within my life.

A different challenge that I faced with this project was the filming. I was the only one part of the project so how was I to start, stop, and pause without having weird cuts and edits? How am I supposed to serve myself the meal if I am the one getting served? This added to the project since I do this by myself everyday anyways, so why would I start getting served now. The start and end, as well as any pauses in the middle were easy to fix as I found a video editor already installed on my computer.

My hope is that while the audience is watching the video collection, they question why this performance makes them feel uncomfortable. Is it because they relate or do not relate and feel they should? Is it because eating feels like a private act and they should look away when eating even though a meal is usually shared?


About Victoria

I am a second-year student at the University of Lethbridge taking Art History/Museum Studies. I prefer to work in sculpture and 3D materials but this last semester I have started to get more interested in performance and video. These are the main mediums that I work in and hope to do more so with in the future.

Taking an Indigenous Studies Art History course over the summer of 2021 made me realize that I would like to take more Indigenous Studies courses. This was because in that one class I learned more about Indigenous culture and history than my 12 years of public school. So when looking through the course catalogue I saw that there was an Indigenous art studio course, I knew I should take it. This class seemed like a good mix of learning and creating, both of which I enjoy doing. I’m happy that I chose to take this class as it was an interesting class that gave me lots of freedom to express myself and learn more.

These Indigenous Studies classes as well as the few studio classes I have done in the last year have accumulated to where I am now with my art. They gave me the freedom to learn and challenge myself mentally with what I can do. My background with sports and my family dynamics have also given me some unique perspectives on my work that have helped to foster some interesting ideas and projects.

Untitled
2021

For this project, I presented an installation of objects and materials used during an action painting performance. The resulting canvas was exhibited alongside with the remaining raw material samples and the performer’s clothing. For the class critique I included a short video of the performance along with a brief text, picturing the actions and ideas that preoccupied me in the performance. As an artist, it is important to me to give equal value and relevance to elements involved in a project. The materials where acrylic house paint, wall plaster, and fine sand, gravel, and wood chips. For the performance, the canvas was developed hands-on only, and while in reflection about my present understanding of the concept of “Time.” While immersed in the performance, I enjoyed sharing action and corporeality with the canvas. I enjoyed Time passing by as a “Gesture” onto the canvas and myself alike.

About Francisco

My name is Francisco Luna. In 2019 I completed a bachelor’s degree, majoring in Fine Arts and in Philosophy. I am an aspiring artist. My artistic practice is embodied mainly by painting and sculpture. My aspiration to grow alongside my communities. And to help expand appreciation for living and self-reflection. In my painting practice I explore oil paint. I appreciate their colours and textures. Alongside I reflect about ideas of personal self-discovery and of self-reflection. In my sculpture practice I expand further my artistic inquiry. In my sculpture practice I explore hand-on materials. I appreciate their resistance and plasticity. Overall, in my artistic practice I explore the artist in relation to technique and to gesture. I appreciate the self-awareness artmaking continuously provides.

Traditional Blackfoot Garb and what have you
(work-in-progress)
2021
Canvas, beads, thread, pine resin, Buffalo Hair, leather, sinew, cloth, wool, wool
blankets, hide glue, wood

My project encompasses a lot of projects, including leggings, hair ornaments, shirts, moccasins, bags, knife sheaths, and so much more made with traditional materials and methods, but for this course, I decided to go with my beaded blanket strip and my Gumball Hair Drop of Spotted Buffalo Hair Drop. My work means a lot to me, and I believe it always has been in one way or another. I was raised traditionally, or so my mother tells me, and so I was always around those kinds of things. Naturally, being a child I wasn’t interested in those things and would often play with the other kids rather than listen, but now that I am older I often find myself remembering things that were said and gradually gaining interest in my culture, whether that be in a ceremony, everyday life, or material culture aspect. More recently within the last three years, I’ve grown more interested in the art of beading and construction of the many traditional garbs. I’ve become passionate about this stuff and want to be able to pass it on to the next generation so that they pass it on and so forth. My current project right is making a traditional outfit that a young man would have worn back during the tipi days. I’ve gathered many supplies including thread, leather, different kinds of cloth and leather, beads, sinew, an assortment of misc items like bells, tin cones, and etc. I choose these materials because these supplies are what would have been available to tribes back during the old days, and not only for the Blackfoot but for other tribes since the beginning of first contact with European settlers. I find that fascinating how tribes would take these items they were surely interested in and make them their own, using things like tacks which were originally meant for tacking fabric down onto furniture, and making adornments to their clothing and items.

I took the Indigenous Art-Studio class last semester whereas I undertook the theme of survivance as it relates to my work in a very forward manner, being that these art forms are here today based on the perseverance of its medium holders who continued to teach this knowledge to individuals who in turn taught other individuals who then taught me and that’s who it survived the trials of colonization, quite literally in my mind embodying the theme of survivance itself or at least being a prime example. A lot of the artwork I’ve made so far have been somewhat obscure, or rather uncommon in the circles of beading and craft making, and there laid my first obstacle, finding people who knew how to make these things and/or finding things I can reference whether that be old manuscripts, books, photos from museums and etc, with things referring to the spotted buffalo hair drop aka., gumball hair drop, beading with sinew technique, and so on.

One question I would like people to think about when referring to my project is: “What sort of knowledge, whether it be from your culture or family, is not well known anymore? Is this something you think you can learn? And maybe pass on to other members of your culture or family?

Blanket Strip on Canvas:
This project is what’s referred to as a blanket strip, a beaded piece one would fashion onto a blanket. These kinds of items were somewhat of a status symbol as it took a lot of beads to make, and back in the old day’s beads were not cheap. Blanket strips could of been part of a man’s outfit when he was on the courting path, dressing in his best and adorning his best to prove to his would-be love that he was wealthy. Chiefs often wore these as a symbol of their status within their tribe.

A Buffalo Spotted Hair drop, or a gumball hair drop:
An adornment a man would wear to appear dandy, essentially look good during social events, and perhaps ceremonies. You can often find shorter braids of these types (mostly shorter in length) attached to the back of headdresses and other kinds of head gear. These kinds of hair ornaments are made from the “spotted hair,” of a buffalo, or the long hair located at the top of a buffalo’s head. The process is still a learning experience for me but I am very grateful that have the means and help to learn how to make these.


About Martin

Oki, my name is Martin Roundstone, and I’m an enrolled member of the Blood Tribe (Kainai) of southern Alberta. I’m currently in my 2nd year at the University of Lethbridge, with my major being Indigenous Governance. My usual field of profession in regards to an art form is that of beading, which in itself is vast as I study traditional beadwork of Blackfoot and Northern Cheyenne patterns, with a plan to study as many tribes beadwork as I can later on down the line, learning about different beading techniques, materials used, and trying to learn uncommon methods of making traditional clothing. So far, I’ve accomplished many things that I wouldn’t have dreamed up a couple of years ago, first and foremost, discovering my passion within this medium. I’ve also accomplished learning about beading techniques, teaching myself how to bead with sinew, and most importantly so far, taking the time to talk to elders and understanding the vast knowledge they have. The catalyst for my artistic journey has a myriad of origin points. One is my mother who has taught me the foundations of beading and who I often go to when I have questions, another being my late relatives, Uncle Bill, and Grandpa Martin who both encouraged me to pursue an interest in my culture, another being the instructors I’ve met whom I’m currently learning from.

The Norse Shield
2021
wood, glue, stain, metal nails, wooden dowels, screws, fake fur, metal cap

For my art project, I had decided to make a Viking shield using planks of wood butted together, simulated animal fur, metal cap, upholstery tack nails, wooden dowels, wood stain, and glue to help bond the materials. In total, this project had taken me about six hours to create.

When choosing materials for my project, I wanted my artwork to resemble that of the Norwegian Vikings. The primary material used in the building of the shield is lumber. This is consistent with the materials used by the Vikings. Instead of using mediums of paint or oil to seal and safeguard the wood from decay, I had selected wood stain as my alternative. This protected against deterioration but also gave the artwork a pleasant appearance. In keeping to the traditional techniques of the Vikings, I had developed a rounded shield that was best suited to fit my physical characteristics and body type. The construction of a round shield would make this shield light and easy to maneuver during times of battle or war.

The Viking shield is considered one of the most symbolic elements from the Viking Age. A Viking's primary defensive weapon was the shield. The color of the shield could also be used to send a message to their opponents. Red shields signaled war, while white shields meant peace. The symbolic meaning of a shield helps to identify the user and to whom they pledge their loyalty and allegiance to.

My interest in recreating this piece of Viking weaponry stems from my desire to learn about my heritage. Being of Norwegian heritage, I naturally gravitated to learn more about the Norsemen and their way of life. The shield is not only a representation of my heritage but also a reflection of my past and how I see myself in the present moment. I had discovered my need for having patience, perseverance, and a willingness to keep going. I had experienced many new challenges while working in the shop. During the learning process, I had acquired new woodworking skills, identified, and assessed the materials used, and the symbolic meanings attached to the shield. I would learn to work with power tools, drills, sanding machines, and table saws. Getting the glue to adhere to the wood was also troublesome during the building process. Using large amounts of glue had also led to longer dry times. Using reinforced wood on the back of the shield help in providing extra strength, support, and durability to the Viking shield. Overall, I am please with the outcome of my work.


About Cory

Cory Stangeland was born in 1982 in the small town of Vermilion, Alberta. Growing up, he lived in Canada’s Northwest Territories, as well in the province of Alberta. He would gain a strong connection to the land, a passion for understanding history, and a clear desire in learning about the civilizations and ancient cultural practices. His thirst for knowledge led him to The University of Lethbridge, where he is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Archaeology and Geography. After completing his degree, Cory intends to travel to foreign countries in the hopes of assisting in archeology digs. His desire to learn about his own linage, helped to inspire his artwork. Being of Norwegian descent, Cory would examine the use of the Viking shield. In his artwork, Cory would recreate a shield having a close resemblance to that of ancient times.

Are You an Orchid or a Dandelion?
2021
Czech seed beads, stiff felt, many needles, canning jar


In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, I created a dating profile on Tinder and I updated my status with the question “Are you an orchid or a dandelion?” This was to inspire interesting discussions with matches; I wanted to see how they interpreted the question, and to learn if matches see themselves as resilient and adaptable, like a dandelion, or sensitive and delicate, like an orchid. My favourite match responded quickly saying that she was an orchid, and I responded saying that I was a dandelion. We were complimentary, and this grew to be my first meaningful romantic relationship with a woman.

I am inspired to work with flowers because I admire their delicateness and strength, as they play an important role in the environment, aiding in the process of pollination. I choose flowers to make connections between my admiration for Mother Earth, my studies in Biology, Geography, and Psychology, and my reclamation of my Cree ancestry. I grew up feeling confused about what it meant to be Métis, and now I am exploring knowledge transference from my family and communities. I grew up knowing that my grandmother had a hysterectomy in the 1970’s, and after learning about the eugenics movement from an Indigenous Studies course, I explored this topic with my family, with delicateness and strength. Cree-specific knowledge transference is missing from my family, perhaps a result of the residential schools that my great-grandmother and great-aunt were forced to attend. I have been called to work with beads ever since I was a little girl, and this project was my first step towards making an intentional effort to nurture this connection between myself and my heritage, and to start a process of knowledge transference within my family that I can be proud of.

I have been learning beading techniques from Indigenous women on Instagram. This online community has made beading accessible and has helped me bridge the gap in knowledge transference. I chose my materials based on what I saw these women using and sourced them at a locally owned craft store that a classmate recommended. Colour was a driving factor for the beads I chose; based on the recognizable and bold dandelion, I chose to work with complimentary colours for the orchid.

It was challenging to portray a dandelion with the traditional beading style at first. This style lays flat on the surface, which is a contrast to the textured and 3-dimensional aspects of sculpture I am more drawn towards. When I see a dandelion, I see the potential for a sculpture piece, and this style of beading has challenged my perspective.

Although my grandmother does not associate canning with being Cree, I am grateful for her skills and interests in this practice. It is something I had long taken for granted and lacked an interest in learning for myself. I have recently realized that it is up to me to show an interest in this tangible skill to preserve and pass on this knowledge. The jar honors the delicateness and strength I see in my grandmother and nurtures this connection and transference between us.

I plan to continue beading earrings and to gift a set to my grandmother and mother. When I thought about knowledge transference earlier in this course, I considered it to be quite linear, from older relatives to younger relatives, and I’m excited to challenge this idea by gifting this knowledge and reclamation to my elders. What sort of knowledge has transferred upward in your family?


About Marissa

I am from the earth: I am from many homes on Treaty 6 and Treaty 7 territories. I am from the sun: I am from early morning travels with the sunrise. I am from the sky: I am from my mother’s second-hand cigarette smoke, ashes, and bitterly cold air hugging me in the backseat. I am from singing along to my mother’s CD’s, and I am from “go before we leave”, so we didn’t have to stop between destinations.

I am grateful for the fast-paced, nomadic lifestyle I grew up knowing with my mother. I was exposed to a variety of experiences and people that have influenced my perspective over the years. I have always had access to art supplies and was encouraged to create. She helped me see the value in handmade gifts, as she led the way with homemade birthday cakes and sewed all my Halloween costumes. This was how mom and I showed each other love, by creating something from nothing.

I like to live at a slower pace now, currently paused on Treaty 7 territory in Lethbridge, Alberta. I am in my third year at the University of Lethbridge, studying Biology, Geography, and Psychology in a General Science degree; I am pre-Education. I am still an early morning traveller and sing along to mom’s greatest hits. I am discovering my own greatest hits as well, and now I stop for the sake of stopping: to admire and give thanks to the earth, the sun and moon, the sky, and the waters that guide my journey. I am grateful to share this space with you.

In the midst of despair
2021
Acrylic on canvas

A painting on fabric, in this artwork I haven’t used any paint brush to paint it, I have painted it using just my hands. I chose to use this method, because this work is very personal to me. I have made this work in the middle of many emotional struggles I have been dealing lately. I consider this work to be a solace for me in this time. I recently lost two very close people in my life, which is something I have never dealt before. I didn’t know what it means to lose a person forever, and when I encountered this it was very difficult to handle, especially when not having my family around me. This experience feels like a cluster of emotions surrounding you like a cobweb, it feels like you are stuck with that and you also don’t want to come out of it deliberately. The past two months have taught me a lot of things, and as an individual I have started to understand certain emotions and also have been puzzled with some emotions. The passing of my aunt and uncle was a wakeup call for my system. There are some unanswered questions I have for myself which maybe one day I might know the answer to or maybe not.

The process of choosing the material for this project was a deliberate decision, I wanted to use my body as tool to connect my emotions within myself, to show how grief has affected me, to go through the state of mind.

I have narrated a phase which I am going through in my life, it is a “combination” of lot of emotions and trying to adapt to the reality faced in front of me. To tell this as a story through my artwork, this course was the best thing, connecting with my mental and emotional factors which is governing my situation. In this course I have learnt you don’t always have to make an art just to look aesthetically appealing and beautiful to your eyes. It can also be tragic as possible, it is what you want it to be, what you want to show the world.

It was a very difficult process to deal with because when I was making this work I am in the position to depict what was going in my mind, accepting the death of two important people is like going through hell and the entire time when you are making the work it is in your mind the first emotion that you went through when you heard about their death, the time you spent with that person and also realising when you go home one day there are not going to be there. The last time you met them was the last memory you have of them. All these made it unbelievably challenging to create this work. I am still in the process of making the work.

About Natassya:

My name is Natassya Shanmugaraja, I am doing my Bachelor of Fine Arts (Art Studio) at the University of Lethbridge. I am in my 4th year. I am an international student from Chennai, Tamilnadu, India, currently living in Lethbridge, Alberta. Most of my works are concentrated in painting, sculpting, digital media, print making and ceramics. I focus working on environmental issues, philosophical and psychological themes. Most of my 2D works has been mainly associated with mind and emotions whereas the sculptures that I work on related with environmental related. It is not a conscious decision but when I look at my past works this is how my pattern is. When I work with environmental issues, some way or the other I am part of that cause by making art related to that I try to communicate what we as humans do to the earth.

My personal experience with my creativity comes from where I grew up back home and the people who I have been and associated with. grew up looking at many artists personally from my childhood and I have always been grateful to that. . I want to include two of the artist who played very important role in me becoming an artist they are Trotsky Marudu and S.Mark Rathinaraj. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trotsky_Marudu and http://www.markrathinaraj.com/about & https://southasianart.gallery/collections/s-mark-rathinaraj
My fascination towards western and eastern art comes from my father who is also my mentor. He was the one who introduced me to the world of art, who is a filmmaker himself. Also, books, music, films and nature played an important role moulding me as an artist. One of the main genre that had a very big influence in my life is Auschwitz literature. It helped me understand the human cruelty and pain, which no one can imagine being in that situation unless you were the one who was experiencing it.

Untitled
2021
click here for process video
Artist’s site

My grandmother has a very large appreciation for the arts and over the years has collected a vast majority of pieces from paintings to pots. Being of Native descent she is very proud of our heritage and loves to support Aboriginal artists as much as she can. One of her favourite artists that she has multiple paintings from around her house is Benjamin Chee Chee. Seeing his works around her house has always caught my eye so for this project I decided to try creating a piece inspired by his artstyle. For this project I created this project digitally using my tablet, I originally had planned to use India ink and calligraphy but I was having some troubles figuring out how to use a calligraphy pen and I couldn’t quite achieve the smooth almost one stroke lines that Chee Chee uses in his art. I chose to draw cats in this piece because they’re actually supposed to represent my two cats. The one on the left is very playful and hyper but also a bit of a brat like my cat Ginny, and the one on the right is my cat Maggie who is quite calm and relaxed but also a little bossy because she’s quite old now. They’ve been a huge part of my life growing up and have definitely helped me get through some hard times so I'm very grateful for them. This piece was a challenge for me as I’m used to creating overly detailed artworks and with Benjamin Chee Chee’s artstyle it challenged me to simplify my art using few strokes and varying linework to achieve this final outcome.

Benjamin Chee Chee born on March 26, 1944 in Ontario was a self- taught Canadian artist of Ojibawa descent who is known as one of the most prominent figures of the Woodland School of Art. Chee Chee gained renown for his spare, elegant depictions of geese and other birds, insisting that these images did not carry symbolic meaning, describing them instead as “ creatures of the present”. He unfortunately committed suicide at the age of 32 on March 14, 1977. I wanted to create this piece in his art style because I’ve always been amazed at how he’s able to capture an animal and it’s shape so perfectly with such few lines. Looking at some of his pieces where the animal is in motion like for example his piece, “Four Geese in Flight” (shown above) just from looking at it it almost feels as though you are taking off with these birds and experiencing these movements with them, and it’s almost exhilarating it evokes this strong sense of freedom and being very stressed these last couple of weeks with school seeing these birds flying away It just makes me want to fly away with them. Also looking at Chee Chee’s art always makes me think of my grandparents and every time I’ve visited them, they moved around quite a bit while I was growing up but the one constant thing they would always have hanging on their walls was some of his artwork.