#artist statement

[piizunn]

“Knowing You Has Made Me a Better Settler Person”: Tokenizing the Métis Identity 

View my work: A Spectacle of Me for You 

By riel 

My name is riel, I am a Red River Métis artist descending maternally from the historic Métis families by the names of Berthelet, Caron, St. Germaine, Dubois, Dazé, and Larivière, who come from the communities of Pointe à Grouette, now St. Agathe, St. Norbert, and St. Vital, now modern-day Winnipeg, and the historic Batoche, Saskatchewan. My Berthelet ancestors, notably my third great grandfather Joseph Berthelet Sr. was a community leader of Pointe à Grouette, and my fifth-great uncle Jean Caron Sr fought at fifty-two years old in the battle of Duck Lake, Saskatchewan of the North-West Resistance of 1885. His house is now a historic site in Batoche. My mother is a Métis academic with a background in education and my father is a settler of British ancestry, and an archaeologist-turned-locksmith. I introduce myself in this way, in the traditional way of Métis authors, such as Chantal Fiola and Jean Teillet, to contextualize my knowledge and experiences, as well as my connection to this land.  

Earlier this year, 2022, as the winter semester wrapped up, and spring was beginning to rear its big green head, I finished building a Red River cart. It was four months of research and physical labour. I taught myself methods of wood joinery that my ancestors would have used, the hand tools they had access to pre-industrial revolution, as well as the power tools we as modern Métis have access to now. After the cart’s completion I installed it in the Ivan Gallery at school. That is when and where it happened. A classmate of settler colonial ancestry approached me. We had spent two semesters at odds. Her work focused on the climate crisis but came from a place of doomism and borderline eco-fascism. She regurgitated colonial narratives regarding our “doomed world” and the inherent violence of humans, and when she was corrected and shown the harm in her words she doubled down.  

She said to me “knowing you, has made me a better person.” I do not know this woman and she does not know me, but I believe I knew her in that moment. To her, I am an encyclopedia, a fountain of knowledge for her to drink from whenever she wants to feel a little less guilty. I realized what she meant. 

“Knowing you has made me a better settler person” 

What does it take to know a person? Who defines knowing? In that moment, I knew my classmate, but she could not have known me less. To her, and many others I have met in my life, my culture and I represented an outlet for settler guilt. I was the “real Indian” she took a photo with to prove her proximity and understanding of Indigeneity (James Luna). Because in settler minds, every Indian is every Indian, and every Indian is an encyclopedia to test knowledge against. I am a measuring stick for settlers to compare their thoughts and actions to. 

I began to really consider how settlers were tokenizing me; sexually, intellectually, culturally, spiritually, to settlers I am a fantasy Métis academic. I am an all knowing all sensing wise Indian who can track a man through all terrains, who can tell you your spirit name by just looking at you, who will save your life when you are caught unprepared on my land, and who will scalp an enemy with no mercy. That is what people want from me, not the stories of the Métis resistance leaders who tried to overtake your settler ancestors in the Northwest Resistance, who could spit bullets and toss gunpower directly into their guns all while on horseback. They do not want to hear about The Old Wolves who fought in the Northwest Resistance and years later met in St. Vital to lovingly and meticulously document our young nation’s history, who hated the word “rebellion” (Jean Teillet). 

A Spectacle of Me for You is an installation containing a series of sculptures, photographs, prints, and found objects arranged in a “spectacle” of the Métis identity. The work is the result of experimentation with materials and engagement with Métis theory on self-governance and our history. Being named after Louis Riel often feels like an invitation for settlers to give me their unsolicited opinion on whether my ethnic group should have rights, and if Louis Riel was a madman or not, with most of the conversations quickly becoming anti-Indigenous and/or ableist. To my people, however, it is an honour to be named after Riel, the man who, with Gabriel Dumont successfully won the Red River Resistance of 1869, and commanded my ancestors in the Northwest Resistance of 1885. In this work I employ Indigenous humour- our ability to make fun of ourselves, remaining in control of the joke in order to remove that power from settlers, who are suddenly uncomfortably aware of their perception of Indigenous peoples. I have been heavily influenced by artists like Jesse Ray Short who dressed as Louis Riel in a drag-esque performance, and James Luna’s performance Take A Picture with a Real Indian (2001) and Artifact Piece (1987), Dayna Danger’s Big ‘Uns series, specifically for their reclamation of explicit Indigenous sexuality, and their ways of incorporating Indigenous, specifically Métis and Salteaux material culture into representations of Indigenous sexuality. Finally, I also would like to reference Rebecca Belmore’s piece Artifact #671B from 1988, where Belmore implicates her own body as an artifact in similar ways that James Luna has.  

The viewer enters the room to find a table at the back of the room, seemingly an in-use workspace, with a sewing mannequin dressed in brown pants, a red and black flannel, a Louis Riel shirt, and a beaded leather strap on placed over the pants. There is also a half-deflated mask of Louis Riel placed on the table. On the table there are postcards- free for the viewer to take with two different designs to choose from. On one side of the room a log has been placed on the ground and another rests a few feet away, seemingly more haphazardly than the carefully placed log.  

A Spectacle of Me for You is a staged representation of what a beader’s workspace might look like. A series of props that vaguely reference the Métis but does not actually represent the workspace of the artist. It is a highly curated idea of the Métis identity, playing on well-known stereotypes. Among the workspace set-up there are two stacks of postcards, one with a shot of the artist posing with two logs they personally harvested in January of 2022, left over from building a Red River cart, one of the logs positioned suggestively between the legs of the artist. They are dressed in stereotypical lumberjack clothes as well as a t-shirt with Louis Riel’s face and a slogan that reads “keepin’ it Riel”. The artist also wears a latex mask of Louis Riel, tying the fantasy together.   

Otipemisiwak Voyageur Fantasy Husband is a series of postcards as well as a costume worn by the artist to comment on different aspects of tokenization. The leather strap on harness worn over their clothes is an overt reference to the fetishization of Indigenous people, specifically Indigiqueer and Two Spirit community members, and a comparison of Indigenous and settler masculinity. The harness is paired with a lumberjack style flannel and a shirt with an image of Louis Riel that reads “keepin it real”, and a latex mask of Riel, worn on the artist’s head, obscuring their face. The postcards and the mask are a reference to modern Métis material culture and our infatuation with objects with Louis Riel’s face. The mass-production of these items has both caused a massive inflation of Louis Riel-kitsch, but also a larger awareness of our presence as Métis people, and what Riel means to us. Akin to the presidents' masks used by the Ex-Presidents gang in the 1991 film Point Break, the artist uses their Riel mask to draw attention to the way real historical figures, particularly politicians become caricatures of their actual selves in the eyes of the public, allowing them to be immortalized in popular culture. On a smaller scale, something similar has happened to Louis Riel where many settlers deem him a violent mad-man, and reduce him to a caricature of himself, while the Métis have reclaimed this treatment, and have found ways to honour him in our material culture. 

References/Works Cited 

BELMORE, REBECCA. ARTIFACT #671B, 1988. 

BIGELOW, KATHRYN. POINT BREAK. TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX, 1991.  

BURNS, CLARISSA. VOYAGEUR GAMES DEMONSTRATION. https://metisgathering.ca/classroom-resources/classroom-voyageur-games/. MÉTIS GATHERING. 2022.  

LUNA, JAMES. TAKE A PICTURE WITH A REAL INDIAN, 2000.  

LUNA, JAMES. ARTEFACT PIECE, 1987. 

   RIEL, LOUIS. FINAL TRIAL STATEMENT. http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/riel/rieltrialstatement.html. JULY 31ST 1885.  

SHORT, JESSIE RAY. WAKE UP!, 2015. 

  TEILLET, JEAN. THE NORTH-WEST IS OUR MOTHER : THE STORY OF LOUIS RIEL’S PEOPLE, THE METIS NATION. PATRICK CREAN EDITIONS, AN IMPRINT OF HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS LTD., 2013. 

#my writing #context for some of my work! but this could probably stand alone #linking the work at the top! #indigenous academic #indigenous #métis #métis writer #art writing #artist statement

[noosphe-re]

Artist Statement, Antony Gormley

Things already exist

Sculpture already exists

The job is to transform what exists in the outer world

by uniting it with the world of

sensation, imagination and faith.

Action can be confused with life.

Much of human life is hidden.

Sculpture, in stillness, can transmit what may not be seen.

My work is to make bodies into vessels

that both contain and occupy space.

Space exists outside the door and inside the head.

My work is to make human space in space.

Each work is a place between form and formlessness,

a time between origin and becoming.

A house is the form of vulnerability,

darkness is revealed by light.

My work is to make a place, free from knowledge,

free from history, free from nationality to be experienced freely.

In art there is no progress, only art.

Art is always for the future.

Published in Antony Gormley: Five Works, Serpentine Gallery, London: Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1987 (source)

#quote #art #artist statement #space #sculpture #Antony Gormley #Gormley #philosophy #phenomenology

[goldenfever]

peggy nolan : from juggling is easy

ARTIST STATEMENT

Got married raised seven kids lived in the projects stayed home cooked and cleaned dreamed of making art started photographing shoplifted film learned to print shot a lot of pictures stole more film moved out of the projects went back to college shot more film studied hard got a job shot more pictures got divorced got pierced up worked harder graduated from college stole more film got some grants got some attention not really enough shot more film made more and more pictures got a better job went back to college graduated from graduate school kids grew moved out of the house shot more film got more grants got more attention still not enough calmed down stopped stealing film slowed down some started thinking more shot better pictures calmed down slowed down still thinking still making pictures.

#peggy nolan #peggy levison nolan #artist statement #photographer #photography #juggling is easy

[k00297901]

Disrupt

My “Disrupt” project focuses on the world of work and burnout. Within this dreamlike realm, I dismantle and distort defined symbols of work - arrows, computer keyboards, telephones - challenging their traditional meanings and rigidity. I wanted to convey the idea of falling asleep at your desk and the whole space around you beginning to shift and look a little bit off.

By disrupting these elements, I aim to make explore the fragility of corporate structures and the concept of success, urging the audience to question, reflect, and redefine connection with the corporate world and its impact on well-being. Is it worth being so exhausted and burnt out, spending this life working towards stability you may never see and a house you will *never* afford at this rate?

#artist statement #corporate world #burnout #disrupt #artists on tumblr

[erinbakerphotography]

Artist Statement

I have significantly improved in my photography over the last 4 months. My work in class and my volunteer work at a local shelter has allowed me to develop a passion for photography. In particular, I have grown to love shooting shelter animals.

I adore taking photos of shelter pets that capture their personality to help them find their fur-ever homes. Working with shelter animals, especially dogs lately, has grown my passion for animal advocacy and allowed me to refine a skill that helps these sweet animals find homes. My skills with shooting a subject who doesn't always listen to direction, those who are scared of the camera (or just everything in general) are blossoming and I can not wait to keep growing them. I want nothing more than for all the animals whose pictures I capture to find loving homes and humans to call their own.

#artist statement

[mxdnxghtraven]

Identity Behind Closed Doors, 2023

// Authors Note: The following artist statement and photos are from my final project of the semester for my photography course. I have chosen to not connect this to one of my ongoing stories, as this project is incredibly vulnerable, raw, and personal to me.

I intentionally chose to have eight photos that look as though they are from two different projects. Identity is both inward and outward facing, with the cool tone photos being inward and the warm tone photos being outward respectively. Over the last few years, I have experienced being told that I am not trans because I present in a gender non-conforming manner, that I don’t deserve to be trans, that I am just confused, that I am a white girl that wants to be different, the list goes on. The reality is that I am a man and always have been, even prior to having the words to describe what I have felt since childhood. 

The warm photos tell the story in a movie frame style that show the way societal responses and pressure affect how I view my own identity: damaged, broken, misunderstood. I have experienced microaggressions ever since I came out. The cool tone photos tell a story in the same movie frame style, but of my inward struggles with living in a body that does not correspond to the image I have of myself in my mind. In my mind, I do not have a feminine chest, I have a deeper and more masculine voice, and my frame is more masculine and muscular/toned (which I briefly achieved in high school). 

Simply put, at every stage of my transition, I am a man. I can be a man with a feminine chest. I can be a man with a feminine voice. I can be a man with a feminine figure. I can be a man in makeup. I can be a man in a dress. I can be a man in a suit. I use he/they pronouns, and I make it very clear. There is simply no excuse for misgendering me. I have more important things to do than adhering to outdated gender norms.

#writing #art #photography #my photos #my photgraphy #writeblr #artist #artist statement #small artist #artisticexpression #artistic photography

[ancientstarrydynamo]

Why so close? So beautiful I understand.. but why?

The simple answer to why I chose macrophotography is that I'm good at it. Even when working with a wider-angle lens, I've always had more success with closer, contained subjects. This is something my photography professor even commented on. At this point it almost feels slightly agoraphobic for me to work with wider subject matter. How can I possible encapsulate the entirety of a mountain range? or a sunset? It seems like pure hubris to even try.

In contrast, the delicate folds of a flower petal are controllable. I can turn them the way I want. I can examine every facet and know everything there is to know about them. I can also share all the secrets I've found with the rest of the world. Art to me is about showing something true to someone who hasn't noticed it before.

And regarding your other ask about possible connections to science. I consider myself very inspired by science photography, but I personally only have a degree in studio art. My father was both a scientist and a photographer who worked at a lab named after Doc Edgerton who was a pioneer in high-speed photography (he's rad, look him up).

#ask #thethirdman8 #art #artist statement #photography

[charleeadamsart]

✿ WTF Even is This?

I make (and share) art to connect people in this late stage capitalist hellscape.

I’m inspired by 90s counterculture, punk/DIY/zine aesthetics, queerness, neurospice + retinal burning colour. I make prints, zines, illustrations, posters + collages.

I want you to see my art + feel something (hopefully, ultimately, that you’re not alone).

So put on your peril sensitive sunglasses + join me.

Check out all my posts of my own work. You can also see all my finished pieces over at my Insta account. I mostly work with ink + digital drawing, analogue + digital collage, and lino. You'll find the materials, resources + references I used at the bottom of every Tumblr post.

If you make banging alternative/counterculture art, I'd love to share it! Hit me up if you have something you want me to share. If I don't feel it fits with the vibe of the page, I might not share it directly, but I'll periodically post a "punk art follows" list featuring the best accounts I didn't share. No submissions from under 16s plz.

Ah go on, Father. Ya will ya will ya will ya will. I do band/gig posters, album covers, punky-grungy graphic design, branding + (cheap, fast, accessible) websites. I occasionally do an art commission, too, if it's the right job. Talk to me.

Transphobia is not very punk rock of you. I won't tolerate that or any other bigoted bs, so expect to be blocked if you show up here with the hate. This is a safe space for everyone except dickheads. If I unwittingly share a post from a dickhead, let me know please!

#small artist #about myself #punk aesthetic #punk art #weird art #artist statement

[k00286654]

Project statement for 'MOVEMENT'

3rd/March/2023

My project began as a visual investigation into the Gothic Architectural and Literature movement. I began my primary research by looking at the ornamentation and structures of Gothic Churches and Stained-glass windows. I was interested in this theme as I am fascinated by the towering arches and decoration, and I am also a big fan of harry Clarke's work. This then led me to studying forms and people in a stylized way. 

I began with gesture drawings and then experimented with drawing on acetate to recreate the stained-glass window effect. I then continued this experiment into print through creating Lino stamps inspired by photos I had taken of Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg and printing onto acetate. 

Along with gothic architecture I studied Gothic Literature and illustrations. I enjoy and collect gothic poetry and literature and so took scans from my own book pages and sewed, tore, and applied them to show the decay and macabre of the genre of writing. I then created a Screenprint based on ‘The Raven’ by Edgar Allen Poe. 

I then approached the fashion module by basing my pieces on architectural features and fragmented forms. This led to my crochet piece, where I employed the technique of free form crochet. My crochet piece then inspired me to return to printing onto acetate. I took fragments of my crochet and created ‘panels’ and then cut out a stencil. I continued this combining of textiles and print by printing my Lino pieces onto fabric 

Overall, I am not incredibly happy with the work I produced this semester and felt I could have pushed myself more and to be more experimentative. However, I enjoyed being in the studios of my chosen electives (painting, print & fashion), and this gave me focus and enthusiasm towards them.  

#movement #artist statement #art

[k00281190]

Temporary project: artist statement

Exploring 'Temporary' through transformation and identity through mark making and tattoos

Exhibition space

-At the beginning of the project, I started to photograph and video tablets dissolving and I was interested in the performance aspect of it dissolving but quickly lost interest.

-I then started to look at how the skin aged, and how tattoos looked as the body aged. I experimented with melting sheets of plastic and manipulating its form to create a skin-like texture. I ventured into layering a temporary tattoo on top and seeing how its form changed along with the plastic.

-Tried to make my own temporary tattoos using camera obscura but I ultimately thought it was a failure and I didn't like the outcome.

-After the progress review they suggested that I should cast limbs and that became something to draw on. I cast my hand and eventually decorated it with scarification, wanted the project to become more personal to me, so I delved into mark-making and scarification in Africa and connected it by taking some photos of African paintings in my house and abstracting patterns.

- created a plaster cast of my arm, wanted an interactive piece included in my body of work and had students sign it.

- Gloves thought it was an interesting way of transferring a permanent piece of art, from one person to another.

- created collages from magazine cutouts, tracing the history of tattoos and identity also wanted to be sustainable so I used discarded magazines and fabric scraps.

- experimented with latex; layered on top of cling film to create a skin-like texture and painted it, again looking at how people go through pain to adorn their bodies and showcase their identity.

#lsad #contemporary art #artist statement #project

[sueclancy]

Figures Of Speech and writing artist statements

The exercise of writing an art statement for my upcomin art exhibit “Figures Of Speech” has me reaching for essays by Wendell Berry and thinking of the ways poetry can evoke many thoughts and feelings in a few lines. My upcoming art exhibit is titled Figures Of Speech and the title is itself a description of what my exhibit is about. I know exactly what inspired all of the individual artworks…

View On WordPress

#artist statement #Burnt Bridge Cellars #business of art #Caplan Art Designs Gallery #dachshund #essay #Figures Of Speech #fine art #framing #poetry #Wendell Berry #writing

[derekgillespiefn]

#artist statement

[bonejuiceluvr]

son what inn the fresh hell have u drawn on my phone

It's called art dad >:((

U wouldn't get it!!

#you dont understand #its art #artist statement #idk how to use tumblr

[go-bac]

Becoming an Artist

Images above are samples of my work - The Eye (Observer), The Woman (Overthinker), and Abstract Shapes (Translucency).

I see myself as a lover, a friend, a sister, but never an artist. From paintings to sculptures I see in art museums, I am far from what is known as an artist. This word artist is defined in the Oxford dictionary as “a person who produces paintings or drawings as a profession or hobby” or “a person who practices any of the various creative arts, such as a sculptor, novelist, poet, or filmmaker”. I am clearly none of those definitions. But it seems as though every moment I pick up a pen, a marker, or even a spatula, I find that artist I have longed for. I become an artist every time I pick up an X-ACTO knife and straight edge ruler. I become an artist whenever I start singing. I become an artist when I think about how to express my emotions in a way that people can understand. I become an artist when I am brave enough to show my most vulnerable self.

My most cherished form of art is being able to feel empathy for people around me. I am an observer, an active listener, and most of the time, an overthinker. I do my best when I’m put to the challenge. I do my best when I get to work with a team. I do my best when I can lift people up when they’re down. I have no background in painting, sculpting, or any of those aspects that makes an artist. What I do have is the art of people. People are diverse. People are strong. People are resilient. My journey in life has led me down this path of adjusting myself to different people. I am diverse. I am strong. I am resilient.

As an artist, I can touch people through my words and actions. I can show appreciation, love, and recognition for the people around me. I can help people see how much they matter. I can show people the true artist that I am, an artist of people.

#Manola L. #GO LaRox #GO BAC SP23 #GO Online #GO CreativityArts&Culture #Artist Statement

[k00288091]

Project Statement

'Movement' is such a general and wide term, which is probably why I had such a struggle the last 7 or so weeks planning and developing a project around it.

So, when in doubt, I decided to look at the world around me. In my primary research week, I thought back to home, to what I see in the everyday. And so, the movement of the carousel stuck in my mind.

As I went about my daily routine, the spinning carousel was something that was always there, reminding me that every time I made my loop around the house, so did it.

We spend a lot of our own lives doing the same things over and over again, starting at one point and doing a full 360 back around to that same point.

With my project, I guess I wanted to make people think about that. How it is important to know that it's the same shit, just a different day. And how that is totally and completely okay.

The carousel is a simple, moving object. We are simple, moving objects - but that doesn't necessarily mean that that's boring.

Print, painting and photography were my three chosen electives. I only thing I regret about that is that I didn't have enough time to explore them even more. I have discovered a love for my practice in these three areas, and have developed skills over the past few weeks that have become my favourite processes.

From pinhole photography, to stencil screen printing and monochrome painting, the discipline electives have thought me what it truly is to practice as an interdisciplinary artist.

I hope you enjoy following the story of my project. I sure enjoyed creating it.

#print #photography #painting #rotation and circular movements #movement project #artist statement #project statement #discipline electives

[comfycreep]

Image sources: I , II , III

I used to draw creepy little portraits that were wickedly surreal (see below) and kinda gross but also kinda cute at the same time. I thought I and the habit itself was a little odd, but I had so much fun drawing them so I didn’t stop.

Drawings below made by @creepcavepainting

I found Da Vinci’s “grotesque caricatures” a few months after I developed the habit and it was a special kind of vilifying because I knew that I was just an artist and even the best artists get bored with traditional pretty things. That’s why we like drawing fat, wrinkles, rolls, gooey dripping flesh… it’s fun. There’s an added benefit to drawing weird stuff too that I didn’t realize until I did it, it’s a way to say “F you” to the “art scene” and “the man” and popular opinion in general. Artists are drawn to the beautiful, unique, and wondrous parts of humanity. That’s why landscapes and pretty people paintings are a dime a dozen. I can’t lie though, there’s a special place in my heart for artists who can appreciate and create things at both ends of the visual spectrum; beautiful to grotesque. In my research phase, once I really got intrigued with my “creeps” (what I called them) I later stumbled upon a very niche artist movement called mediala and one of its founding members Ljuba Popovic. (Read more about him here.) Ever since, I’ve been hooked and fascinated by the prospect of intermingling fear with desire. I want to create things that make people say “what the hell is going on here” That’s problematic for an artist who wants to sell but for me, a totally anonymous artist it’s been super fun. I’m still in my development stage and working on new conceptual ideas all the time. I’ve since switched from “creeps” to full on monsters juxtaposed with beautiful women. (It wasn’t a far jump.) Why, you ask? I forgot to mention I’m a mental health nurse too. I think my personal artist philosophy has everything to do with feminine desire, internal strife, the human condition, and the subconscious. An example of how those things manifest in my art are below. Im excited to see what comes next & I hope I inspired you to stop and appreciate all sides of the human condition today. We can’t have the best things in life like love, bravery, desire, happiness, passion, or a purpose without the other stuff: greed, fear, disgust, hate, sorrow, or even melancholy. It’s all a part of life. We couldn’t escape it if we tried.

Art below made by @creepcavepainting

Keep it classy creepgang.

✌️👽☕️🪐

#mental health #abstract art #artistic #fineart #gothic #original art #traditional art #artist research #mediala art movement #niche art blog #artist statement