Painting

Acrylic on Stretched Canvas, Leather

After the remains of thousands of Indigenous children were discovered buried on the grounds of residential schools, the Indigenous community of Winnipeg sought a symbol to express their collective grief. On Canada Day in 2021, protesters toppled the Queen Victoria statue outside the Manitoba Legislature. The statue was defaced with red paint, and its head, crown, and orb were removed. Now, beyond repair, it will not be restored.

Inspired by Anselm Kiefer, I wanted to incorporate his recurring motifs of dead and dying sunflowers, surreal landscapes, and themes of grief and loss within a cultural identity. As an Indigenous person, I felt the dread and despair of each new investigation into residential schools, a recurring heartache that resurfaced with every headline. In keeping with Kiefer’s technique, I applied many layers of paint, using a palette knife and even my own hands, allowing the physical act of painting to mirror the rawness of memory and mourning.

Ink on Paper

For this project I took a large sheet of craft paper and blew ink all over the page creating this organic shapes. From there I added teeth, eyes, and anything else to make my little monsters come a live.

Mixed Media

I wanted to explore the concept between views of the afterlife. Everyone has their own opinions on what will happen after our death, which is fascinating. I wanted these paintings to glow and have the light peak through the paint, giving the art life despite the content being death.

Mixed Media

With this painting, I wanted to discuss the importance of tradition within indigenous communities and how modern life causes patches on these traditions. The quilt, which was the inspiration for this piece, is over 100 years old and has been passed down through my family. This quilt, while loved, is not babied. It's thrown on the ground at the park and slept with in bed on cold nights. As rips and cuts appear in the fabric, the current generation patches the quilt, restoring its functionality. 

Many fabrics of various ages and materials make up this quilt. I wanted to use this in my painting by incorporating many different methods of abstract painting, including paint skins, thick layering, excessive matte medium, and many more. Additionally, while prepping the canvas, I applied several layers of gesso, forming many textures and "knots" in the paint to help mimic the ruggedness of such an old quilt.

Mixed Media Painting Series

Film media has such diversity and lengthy history. It influences so much of how we as people view ourselves and those around us. Film media can cause and end wars, change entire beauty and life standards, give us comfort on lonely nights, it is just so entirely human. Since the first motion picture in 1888 humans have been obsessed with capturing ourselves, but at what point did capturing ourselves become what shaped us?

In this body of work I wanted to explore different paint styles/mediums as a way to convey and experience different areas/eras of film and television. An overarching theme for this project is the conveying of features and color stories. Film, as many other artistic mediums, started off in noisy black and white and began to become clearer, more advanced, and more intense uses of color. The eras of film media I chose to cover are Black and White Vintage/Occult Horror (1920s-60s), War Footage (1955-75), Girlhood/Growing Stories (1980s-2000s), Reality Tv (2000s-2010s), Streaming and Oversaturation (2010s-2020s), Return of Artistic Film (2020s-Present). I felt that these periods of film were some of the most significant stories and influential periods where we as a society were no longer influencing film but film influencing us.

Since the first motion picture in 1888 humans have been obsessed with capturing ourselves, but at what point did capturing ourselves become what shaped us?

Film and television, as many other artistic mediums, started off in noisy black and white and began to become clearer, more advanced, and more intense uses of color. The eras of film media I chose to cover are Black and White Vintage/Occult Horror (1920s-60s), War Footage (1955-75), Girlhood/Growing Stories (1980s-2000s), Reality Tv (2000s-2010s), Streaming and Oversaturation (2010s-2020s), Return of Artistic Film (2020s-Present). I felt that these periods of film were some of the most significant stories and influential periods where we as a society were no longer influencing film but film influencing us.

In this project, I created masks based on folklore characters, using them as a way to visually translate stories that have been passed down for generations. Instead of aiming for realism, I focus on capturing the feeling, energy, and symbolism of each figure. Through variations in shape, texture, and detail, each mask becomes its own interpretation of a character, showing how stories can exist and evolve through visual form.

My process begins with researching each folklore figure and then moving into an intuitive, hands-on building phase where the materials and construction guide the final outcome. The act of making becomes similar to the way stories are retold, shifting slightly each time while still holding onto their core meaning. When viewed or worn, these masks invite people to come face to face with the characters, encouraging them to think about why these stories have survived and what they continue to represent in both the past and present.