Featuring works by Siku Allooloo, Catherine Blackburn, Wally Dion and Charlene Vickers, the exhibition opens May 31 at 6 PM at the Libby Leshgold Gallery.
A new exhibition at the Libby Leshgold Gallery at Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECU) spotlights four artists who are shaping the future of Indigenous contemporary art by reimagining traditional Indigenous concepts.
Curated by Daina Warren (BFA 2003), Executive Director, Indigenous Initiatives at ECU, Your Old Way Kind of Vision features works by Siku Allooloo, Catherine Blackburn, Wally Dion and Charlene Vickers (1994 alum).
“My curatorial vision was to look at the contemporary works these artists are making based on traditional objects,” Daina says. “Each artist employs Indigenous forms and references to produce nuanced pieces in materials removed from their ancestral cultures. Each of them also builds upon unique ideas and concepts that innovate original Indigenous forms. Additionally, all three share a commitment to honouring their cultural heritage and engaging in ongoing conversations about Indigenous identity.”
The exhibition’s title refers to a poem titled Arnauqatikka by Inuk, Haitian and Taíno artist, writer, decolonial advocate and community builder Siku Allooloo.
The poem provides a “jumping-off point for considering how the artists connect to their ancestral knowledge and channel this knowledge into their art,” Daina writes in her curatorial essay.
The show includes roughly 135 felt works from a series by Charlene Vickers, an ECU grad and current faculty member. The objects refer to natural forms as well as an artistic movement known as “Ovoidism,” first introduced by renowned artist and ECU honorary doctorate recipient Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun (1983 alum).
Daina writes that Charlene’s work “nods to a lengthy West Coast lived experience while incorporating her Anishinaabe roots in colourful, playful ways.”
“Some are abstract, symmetrical things; others are little creatures. They somewhat resemble Northwest Coast design, but they’re not at all traditional,” Charlene says. “There are different styles and moments and movements and colours and designs. They’re about generating some sort of energy or something to keep my interest and keep me motivated.”
Works including Catherine Blackburn’s Aboriginal Classics series and Wally Dion’s translucent star quilts are also on view. Aboriginal Classics employs Dene beadwork and traditional tea medicine bags to explore themes of identity, language, and story. Wally’s star blankets use colour and form to speak symbolically to the artist’s Indigenous cultural and spiritual themes.
Visiting the Exhibition
Your Old Way Kind of Vision is on view at the Libby Leshgold Gallery at ECU from June 1 through June 30, 2024, from 12 to 5 PM. An opening reception will be held May 31 from 6 to 9 PM. An artist talk featuring Daina and the artists in conversation will take place later in June, with details to be announced.
Attendance at all events is free and open to the public.
Visit Libby Leshgold Gallery online and follow them on Instagram for more details.
Siku Allooloo is an Inuk/Haitian/Taíno filmmaker as well as an interdisciplinary artist, writer, decolonial advocate, and community builder from Yellowknife, NT, Canada (by way of Pond Inlet, Nunavut, and Haiti). A unique and innovative voice of her generation known for working with subject matter in a deeply layered and sensory way, Siku artistically reimagines conventional forms as imbued by her cultural traditions, oral histories, and land-based practice. Siku’s film and artwork have been featured at prominent international film festivals and art galleries, including Whitney Museum of American Art, BlackStar, DOXA, The Flaherty, Canada’s National Arts Centre, Anthology Film Archives, Qaumajuq-Winnipeg Art Gallery, and Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal. Siku’s debut short film, SPIRIT EMULSION (2022), won Best Canadian Short at Gimli International Film Festival, Prix de la Relève (Emerging Talent Award) at Festival International Présence Autochtone, two Filmmaker Awards at YKIFF 2022, and Honourable Mention, DOXA Documentary Short Award. Her independent journalism, poetry, and creative writing have also been widely published (in The Guardian, Canadian Art Magazine, Truthout, Chatelaine, and The Capilano Review).
As the founder and owner of Akia Films, Siku is currently leading the production of her first feature documentary film, INDÍGENA, as the writer, director and co-producer.
sikuallooloo.com
Catherine Blackburn was born in Patuanak, Saskatchewan in 1984. Blackburn is of Dene and European ancestry and a member of the English River Dene First Nation. She is a multidisciplinary artist and jeweller. Her work has been exhibited in exhibitions and fashion venues, including BorderLINE: 2020 Biennial of Contemporary Art at the Remai Modern in Saskatchewan; Àbadakone at the National Gallery of Canada; Santa Fe Indian Market’s Haute Couture Fashion Show; and Art Encounters on the Edge at the Bonavista Biennale, Newfoundland. She has received numerous grants and awards for her work, including the Saskatchewan RBC Emerging Artist Award, the Melissa Levin Emerging Artist Award, a publication in Vogue online magazine, as well as her inclusion on the 2019 Sobey Art Award longlist. Blackburn earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Saskatchewan. She currently lives and works in Thornhill, British Columbia, Canada.
Wally Dion, b.1976 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is a visual artist living and working in Binghamton, New York. He is a member of Yellow Quill First Nation (Salteaux). Dion holds a BFA from the University of Saskatchewan and an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Throughout much of his career, Dion’s work has contributed to a broad conversation in the art world about identity and power. It can be interpreted as part of a much larger pan-American struggle by Indigenous peoples to be recognized culturally, economically, and politically by settler societies. Utilizing large-scale portraiture, found object sculpture, site-specific installation & kinetic sculpture, Dion has expanded upon this practice to include themes of personal history & spirituality. Dion has exhibited extensively throughout Canada & the USA, participating in numerous solo and group exhibitions. Dion’s work can be found in several prominent collections, both private and public.
Charlene Vickers is an Anishinaabe artist based in Vancouver. Vickers’ works lucidly manifest ancestral connections, cultural reclamations and her territorial presence as Anishinaabe Kwe while responding formally to the Coast Salish land she has resided upon for the past 30 years. Vickers is an interdisciplinary artist working in painting, drawing, sculpture, assemblage and performance. She studied painting at Emily Carr University of Art and Design (1994), SFU, BA, Critical Studies in the Arts. (1998), MFA, interdisciplinary visual arts (2013). Vickers was the recipient of the RCA award in 2023 and the VIVA award in 2018.
The Libby Leshgold Gallery is a public art gallery dedicated to the presentation of contemporary art. Located within Emily Carr University of Art + Design on Great Northern Way, the Gallery serves a broad and varied community that includes the students, faculty and staff of the University, the arts community, the public of Greater Vancouver, and visitors from around the world.