Northern_Clips' Circumpolar Blog: NWT Visual Artists @ 2010 Olympic Winter Games

Saturday, 16 January 2010

NWT Visual Artists @ 2010 Olympic Winter Games

RT @Northern_Clips: #NWT Visual Artists @ 2010 Olympic Winter Games
http://ow.ly/XbOy

[Excerpts only see above URL for more information]

From the South Slave region....

Brandy Wilson, photography, Fort Smith

Brandy was born and raised in Inuvik, NWT on the Mackenzie Delta.

Cecile Deneyoua, traditional arts/tufting, Hay River

Cecile was born in Kakisa Lake, NWT and currently resides in Hay River, NWT.

From the Inuvik region....

Mary Okheena, printmaking, Ulukhaktok

When Mary was a child, she watched her father, artist Jimmy Memorana, make prints at the Holman Co-op.

Visual Artists

The NWT produces amazing artists and some amazing art! The 10 visual artists that will be attending the Games come from all five regions of the NWT – the South Slave, Dehcho, North Slave, Sahtu and Inuvik. Who are these artists? What do they do and where do they come from? Read on to find out.

From the South Slave region....

Brandy Wilson, photography, Fort Smith

photo of Brandy Wilson Brandy was born and raised in Inuvik, NWT on the Mackenzie Delta. She grew up in a family in which creativity was inherent and was introduced to fabric and sewing at an early age. Fabric became her chosen media to work with. In 2005 Brandy earned a Fine Arts Degree from the Fibre Department at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary. There she learned various fabric surface design and manipulation techniques. With the skills Brandy developed, she was able to make garments with her own designed fabric. By using traditional and non-traditional materials, her work explores fibres and fabrics as they clothe the body.

She has presented her work at the Great Northern Arts Festival in Inuvik and Art aWEARness in Calgary. In 2001, she was selected to represent the NWT in the National Artist Program at the Canada Summer Games. With her latest work, Brandy is moving towards photographic media. Her inspiration is the foliage and vegetation in the Fort Smith area. She tours the community and collects foliage to arrange. The intense colour and detail of small flowers, weeds and leaves that she captures photographically are then monumentalized for the viewer to examine.

Cecile Deneyoua, traditional arts/tufting, Hay River

Cecile was born in Kakisa Lake, NWT and currently resides in Hay River, NWT. She is an artist who specializes in moose-hair tufting. Cecile has been creating her artwork for the past 40 years and has gained a lot of confidence by sharing her talents with her sisters, who are also moose-hair tufters. She holds an Addictions Diploma and a Social Work Diploma, and loves tufting as a hobby and as a way to support herself. Her work can be viewed in local gift shops and in private homes around her community.

From the Inuvik region....

Mary Okheena, printmaking, Ulukhaktok

Photo of Mary Okheena When Mary was a child, she watched her father, artist Jimmy Memorana, make prints at the Holman Co-op. This third generation Inuit artist began her career in 1977 and her work has appeared at exhibits throughout Canada and the United States. Excelling at the stencil technique, Mary achieves subtle and luminous gradations of colour in her depictions of animals and human figures. It's the freedom of expression that draws Mary to create. "I can play with the design until I'm pleased with it!" Mary's primary activity is stencil printmaking.

Elizabeth Drescher, traditional sewing, Inuvik

Photo of Elizabeth Drescher Elizabeth's preference of hand-stitching articles is from the traditional methods she learned growing up in Tuktoyaktuk, NWT and watching her mother and sisters sew. As a youngster Elizabeth made many of her own toys to play with on the shores of the Beaufort Sea.

From the Sahtu region....

Janet Grandjambe, traditional arts/beadwork, Fort Good Hope

Art is in Janet's blood. Her mother, mother-in-law and aunt all played an influential role in teaching Janet how to be the artist she is today.

Lucy Yakelaya, traditional arts/beadwork, Fort Good Hope

Photo of Lucy Yakelaya Lucy works as an interpreter/translator and occasionally as a culture and language instructor. Lucy was born in Fort Good Hope, NWT. She was raised speaking her aboriginal language and learning the ways of her people. Her mother, Mary Barnaby, and her sisters taught Lucy beadwork and embroidery. Her work is a testament to their instruction and personal talent.

From the North Slave region....

Jennifer Walden, painting, Yellowknife

As a full-time artist living and working in Yellowknife, she is an active member of the NWT arts community. Her work is distinctive in style and explores Northern life through people, wildlife and topography. She works primarily in acrylics, using vibrant colour, rich texture, dynamic line and three-dimensional relief to create a truly sensual experience.

Jamie Look, jewellery, Yellowknife

Jamie is a young and emerging artist and entrepreneur who was born and raised in Yellowknife. Being a third generation Northerner, she recognizes and respects the influence of her family and environment.

From the Dehcho region....

Karen Cumberland, birchbark basketry, Fort Liard

Karen lives in Fort Liard, NWT, a small Northern community well known for its beautifully crafted birchbark baskets.

John Sabourin, carving/painting, Fort Simpson

Photo of John Sabourin John began painting acrylics in 1989. He became serious about persuing a career as an artist in 1995 after completing a fine arts course at Arctic College. He continued formal studies at the Victoria College of Art, in Victoria, B.C. and graduated in 1999. John has sold paintings to private collectors in Canada and the United States. He has completed commissions and murals, including a large granite sculpture for the French Federation in Yellowknife, NWT in 2005 and a painting for the City of Yellowknife public library in 2004.