{"id":432,"date":"2025-05-09T10:29:32","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T17:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/indigenousintensive\/?page_id=432"},"modified":"2025-06-03T13:38:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T20:38:54","slug":"2025-keynote-and-artist-biographies","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/indigenousintensive\/2024-2\/2025-keynote-and-artist-biographies\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Keynote and Artist Biographies"},"content":{"rendered":"

2025 Indigenous Art Intensive<\/h3>\n

Keynote Speakers<\/h4>\n

Joseph Naytowhow<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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\"\"Joseph Naytowhow is a gifted singer\/songwriter, accomplished stage and screen actor, orator and storyteller. His work includes voice, music, and storytelling for on-air plays with CBC, MBC, APTN and SCN. He is passionate and committed to the arts including collaborations, film, television, theatre, advisory and teaching as his life\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Naytowhow uses his many talents to explore themes of traditional nehiyaw (Cree) culture and contemporary society. He is a much sought-after presenter and guest speaker who explores a variety of subjects including the vital role Mother Earth has in sustaining life and our responsibility to protect her, traditional Indigenous culture and ways of being\/knowledge, the treaties in Canada, Truth and Reconciliation, and other topics with a focus on bringing people together. He is renowned for his unique style of Cree\/English storytelling combined with contemporary music and traditional First Nations drum, flute and rattle songs.<\/p>\n

He is the recipient of the Canadian Aboriginal Music Award\u2019s Keeper of the Tradition Award and the Commemorative Medal for the Saskatchewan Centennial. He received a Gemini Award for Best Individual or Ensemble Performance in an Animated Program or Series for his role in the Wapos Bay TV series. He was awarded Best Emerging Male Actor at the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival for his role in Run: Broken Yet Brave. He was awarded the Saskatchewan Arts Board\u2019s Arts and Learning Award for his far-reaching work with many organizations, students, and artists. He has performed for the Prince of Wales, the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan, and many other notables.<\/p>\n

Having earned a Bachelor of Education degree, studied with several traditional Elders as well as a Buddhist master for 15 years, and worked as an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and mentor, Naytowhow is committed to lifelong learning and sharing cultural knowledge. Most recently, Joseph was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws honoris causa (LLD).<\/p>\n

Naytowhow resides in Saskatoon and serves as Emerging Elder\/Cultural Advisor at the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan. He is a member of the Sturgeon Lake First Nation Band, which is located approximately 30 kilometres northwest of Prince Albert.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Jaimie Isaac<\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n
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Jaimie Isaac<\/span><\/span>\u202fis a curator and interdisciplinary artist, an Anishinaabe-<\/span>kwe<\/span> member of <\/span>Sagkeeng<\/span> First Nation, and is of British heritage. Jaimie is the 2025 artist-in-residence at the Center of Human Rights Research for the Just Water project at the University of Manitoba.\u202f She was the Chief Curator at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria from 2021-2023 and advisor 2023-2024. As the Curator of Contemporary and Indigenous Arts at the Winnipeg Art Gallery 2015-2021, she was awarded the Canadian Museums Association Outstanding Achievement Award in the Exhibitions category with the\u202f<\/span><\/span>Boarder X<\/span><\/span>\u202fexhibition. She is co-director\/co-founder of ROSEMARY Gallery\/SKOOL, a roving project space. Through artistic, curatorial and collaborative projects, Jaimie engages in ideas of reconciliation\/<\/span>recoprocity<\/span>, resistance, decolonization in art and in sport, Indigenous feminism, environmental justice, language and cultural resurgence.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Sherry Farrell Racette<\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

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Sherry Farrell Racette<\/span><\/span> (Metis\/Algonquin\/Irish) was born in Manitoba and is a Bill C-31 member of Temiskaming First Nation in Quebec<\/span>. <\/span>She is a Professor in the Department of Visual Arts in the Faculty of Media, Art and Performance at the University of Regina. <\/span>She has done extensive work in archives and museum collections with an emphasis on retrieving women\u2019s voices and\u202frecovering aesthetic <\/span>knowledge<\/span>. <\/span>As an artist, Farrell Racette has exhibited paintings and textile works, and<\/span> has<\/span> illustrated ten <\/span>books working with noted authors such as Maria Campbell, Louise <\/span>Halfe<\/span>, and Rita Bouvier. R<\/span>ecent <\/span>group <\/span>exhibitions include <\/span><\/span>Looking the World in the Face<\/span><\/span>, <\/span>the <\/span>Canada Council Art Bank 50th Anniversary exhibition<\/span> (<\/span>202<\/span>2),<\/span> <\/span>A Prairie Vernacular<\/span> <\/span>(2020), and <\/span><\/span>Resilience: National Billboard Exhibition Project<\/span><\/span> (<\/span>2018<\/span>). Major curator<\/span>i<\/span>al projects include <\/span><\/span>Radical Stitch <\/span><\/span>(with Michelle Lavallee and Cathy Mattes<\/span>, 2022<\/span>-2025<\/span>), <\/span><\/span>Kwaata-nihtaawakihk<\/span> \u2013 A Hard Birth<\/span><\/span> (with Cathy Mattes<\/span>, 2022<\/span>), <\/span>and <\/span><\/span>Chiwayr<\/span> lee <\/span>zistwayr<\/span>: Look at the Stories <\/span><\/span>(2024)<\/span>,<\/span> a community photography project with Metis elders. <\/span>Farrell Racette was the inaugural Anne Ray Fellow at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe (2009), the Distinguished Visiting Indigenous Faculty Fellow at Jackman Humanities Institute, University of Toronto (2016) and received the <\/span>University Art Association of Canada (UAAC-AAUC) Lifetime Achievement Award<\/span> in <\/span>2021.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Artists-in-Residence<\/h4>\n

Judy Anderson<\/h5>\n

\"\"Judy<\/span><\/span> Anderson<\/span><\/span> is <\/span>n\u00eahiyaw<\/span> from Gordon First Nation, Treaty 4, Saskatchewan. Her practice includes beadwork, installation, three-dimensional pieces, painting, and collaborative projects; her work focuses on spirituality, family, colonization, decolonization, and <\/span>n\u00eahiyaw<\/span> ways of knowing and being. Her current work is created with the purpose of honouring people in her life and <\/span>n\u00eahiyaw<\/span> intellectualizations of the world. She is a Professor of Canadian Indigenous Studio Art in the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Calgary.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Marie-Anne Redhead<\/h5>\n

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Marie-Anne Redhead (she\/her) is the Assistant Curator of Indigenous and Contemporary Art at the Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in English from the University of Winnipeg, where she is expected to graduate from her MA in Curatorial Studies this fall. Her creative practice includes writing, beading, and drawing; and her curatorial focus is on destabilising settler normativity in Canadian art while centering Indigenous survivance, resistance, and futurity.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She is Ininiw & francophone and is a member of Fox Lake Cree Nation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nicole Neidhardt<\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n

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Nicole Neidhardt is a Din\u00e9 (Navajo) multi-disciplinary artist and illustrator originally from Santa Fe, NM.\u202fShe received her MFA from OCAD University in Toronto, Ontario, and a BFA with a business minor from the University of Victoria.\u202f Nicole\u2019s Din\u00e9 identity is the heart of her practice which encompasses illustration, installation, murals, and Indigenous Futurisms. \u202fHer multi-disciplinary practice centers and uplifts Indigenous worldviews and voices in order to contribute to strong and vibrant Indigenous futures. \u202fShe has illustrated the books “<\/span><\/span>When We Are Kind<\/span><\/span>,”<\/span>\u202f”<\/span><\/span>Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults<\/span><\/span>,” and<\/span>\u202f”<\/span><\/span>Circle of Love.”<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Peter Morin\"\"<\/h5>\n

Peter Morin is a grandson of Tahltan Ancestor Artists. Initially trained in lithography, Morin\u2019s artistic practice moves from Printmaking to Poetry to Beadwork to Installation to Drum Making to Performance Art. Morin\u2019s artistic offerings can be organized around four themes: articulating Land\/Knowing, articulating Indigenous Grief\/Loss, articulating Community Knowing, and understanding the Creative Agency\/Power of the Indigenous body. The work takes place in galleries, in community, in books, in collaboration, and on the land. <\/span>All of<\/span> the work is informed by dreams, Ancestors, Family members, and Performance Art as a Research Methodology. Throughout his exhibition and making history, Morin has focused upon his matrilineal inheritances in homage to the matriarchal structuring of the Tahltan Nation, and throughout his <\/span>art work<\/span>\/history he has prioritized Cross-Ancestral collaborations. Peter Morin currently holds a tenured appointment in the Faculty of Arts at the Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto. Peter is the son of Janelle <\/span>Creyke<\/span> (Crow Clan, Tahltan Nation) and Pierre Morin (French-Canadian).<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Serena Steel<\/h5>\n

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Serena Steel is a Secw\u00e9pemc interdisciplinary artist and curator from Simpcw First Nation whose practice takes the form of beadwork, sculpture, and writing. Her work revolves around belonging in relation to the land and the people who she comes from. Steel currently works on the unceded territories of the x\u02b7m\u0259\u03b8k\u02b7\u0259y\u0313\u0259m (Musqueam), S\u1e35wx\u0331w\u00fa7mesh (Squamish), and s\u0259lilw\u0259ta\u026c (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Critical and Cultural Practice from Emily Carr University of Art + Design with a minor in Social Practice and Community Engagement.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Les Louis\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n

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Les Louis is Okanagan\/Shuswap and is a member of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band, part of the Okanagan (Syilx) Nation. He has received a Diploma in Fine Arts from Okanagan University College in Kelowna BC, Canada. He also received an Associate Degree in Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A. He now resides in the Similkameen Valley at his homestead with his wife and their children. They are a creative family and are also working on language revitalization in their community.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Les is a vivid artist and has explored many disciplines from drawing, jewelry, photography, painting, ceramics, and traditional techniques. Les has recently found a new passion in sculpture and is bringing his ideas to life and life-size, although he still continues to work in many other mediums. He enjoys wood-working, making rawhide rattles, hand-drums, pow-wow drums, and drumsticks. His creativity stems from various influences, but none so important as his culture, language, traditions, and mother nature. Les is motivated to explore his love for art and portray that in every piece he creates. His passion is expressed in all his works, as he incorporates nature and all its wonders. His Okanagan name is Miwlna? which translates to, “wherever he goes, he is in the middle of things, in the middle of it all.”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Miwlna? enjoys being able to share his Culture through his artwork, he finds himself being a resource person to share his skills, experiences, knowledge and perspectives to broaden peoples understanding of Indigenous ways of being.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In his journey, Miwlna draws upon the examples of the Interior Pictograph designs located throughout his Traditional Territory, as one of his many influences. It is his love for the simple yet complex meaning these images can have that challenge him to express that in new and thoughtful pieces.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Catherine Blackburn<\/h5>\n

\"\"Catherine Blackburn was born in Patuanak Saskatchewan and is a member of the English River First Nation (Denes\u0173\u0142in\u00e9). She is a multidisciplinary artist and jeweller, whose narrative work often addresses Canada\u2019s settler-colonialism.\u00a0Her work grounds itself in the Indigenous feminine\u00a0and is\u00a0bound through the ancestral love that stitching suggests. Through stitchwork, she\u00a0explores Indigenous sovereignty, decolonization and representation. Her work has exhibited in notable national and international exhibitions including:\u00a0Radical Stitch, \u00c0badakone, Santa Fe Haute Couture Fashion Show and Toronto Indigenous Fashion Week.\u00a0\u00a0She has received numerous awards for her work including\u00a0the Sobey Art Award longlist (2019\/2023), a Forge Residency Fellowship (2022), and\u00a0an\u00a0Eiteljorg Fellowship (2021).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Faye HeavyShield<\/h5>\n

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Born in 1953, Faye HeavyShield entered the Canadian contemporary art scene during her third year at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Alberta in 1983 and has since inspired several generations through her work as an artist, mentor, and writer. While many notable Blackfoot artists have been men, Faye\u2019s work grows out of her experience as a Blood woman and cultural matriarch, resulting in a potent minimalist aesthetic that differentiates her from other senior artists of her territory. HeavyShield has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally, including: Nations in Urban Landscapes at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver, BC; rock paper river at Gallery Connexion, Fredericton, NB; Into the Garden of Angels at The Power Plant in Toronto, ON; blood at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery; Land, Spirit, Power at the National Gallery of Canada; Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years at Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art in Winnipeg, MB; and Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Her work is found in the collections of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Glenbow Museum, Heard Museum (Phoenix), Kelowna Art Gallery, MacKenzie Art Gallery, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, National Gallery of Canada, and Nickle Galleries (Calgary).<\/p>\n

Marcy Friesen<\/h5>\n

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Marcy Friesen is of Swampy Cree and Welsh ancestry and currently <\/span>resides<\/span> on a mixed farm with her family near Carrot River, SK. She comes from <\/span>a long line<\/span> of traditional master <\/span>beaders<\/span> and talented creative family members. Friesen has always felt the need to <\/span>create and<\/span> started her career with a small business making utilitarian objects such as mitts, <\/span>hats<\/span> and mukluks. After visiting an art gallery and working with her mentor, she changed her practice to experimenting with an artisanal craftsmanship that exists outside the traditional spectrum of beauty and utility. Threading through beads, leather, and furs, Friesen draws the viewer into an intimate experience using her honed skills and intuitive sensibilities toward material, colour, and presentation. In Friesen\u2019s practice, the natural and synthetic come together in ways that are inclusive of the contemporary condition, transforming ways of understanding and expectations of cultural production.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Amber Sandy<\/h5>\n

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Amber Sandy, a proud member of Neyaashiinigmiing, the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation, is an artist and passionate advocate of land-based education. Her artistry, which focuses on leather, beadwork, tufting, and fur, is deeply rooted in her culture. As a hide tanner, she meticulously transforms moose, deer, and fish skins into handcrafted leather. Her work is a harmonious blend of Indigenous and Western science, reflecting her unique approach to conservation, environmental science, and education. Amber’s fervor lies in increasing access to traditional land-based knowledge, practices, and art for Indigenous people.<\/p>\n

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Victoria Redsun<\/h5>\n

Victoria Redsun \/\/ Sahgoth\u00e9 is Denes\u0173\u0142in\u00e9 & N\u00eehitho from Etth\u00e9n Tue (Reindeer Lake). They are a writer & multimedia artist. The spirit of the nd\u00e9 & tu\u00e9 inspire the creation of their work. They found their voice in filmmaking through mentorships and training. They primarily work in grassroots and independent spaces. They are working towards sovereignty in their homelands.<\/p>\n

*BUSH Gallery<\/a> sponsored<\/p>\n

Vance Wright<\/h5>\n

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Vance Wright (they\/them) is a reconnecting two-spirit member of the Tl\u2019azt\u2019en Nation, and was raised on the unceded territories of the Sinixt Nation in what is colonially known as Nelson, BC. Currently residing in the occupied and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations in Vancouver, they are an emerging artist, curator and writer. They hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University, with a major in Critical and Cultural Practices and a minor in Curatorial Studies.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span>Alberta Rose W.\/Ingniq is an Inuvialuk artist, curator, and preparator based in the Treaty 7 region of Alberta, Canada. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with distinction from the Alberta University of the Arts, followed by a preparatory practicum at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Her practice involves painting, embroidery, beadwork, sculptural installation, video, and photography. She has participated in residencies at the Banff Centre, Contemporary Calgary, and the Calgary Central Library. Her work has been exhibited across Turtle Island. In 2021, Alberta received the honor of being named the TD Indigenous Artist of the Year in Calgary, Alberta.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

*sponsored by UVIC: Canada Excellence Research Chair in Decolonial and Transformational Indigenous Art Practices, University of Victoria.<\/p>\n

\"\"al-yen\u00e9\u00a0\u00a0is an artist from Sakha republic with familial ties to Ebyakh and Tiungiuliu, she was raised in Zyryanka and Yakutsk.\u00a0al-yen\u00e9\u00a0\u00a0works across different media, but mostly with video and poetry. Her practice is focused on continuity, displacement, gaps and absences within cultural memory of Sakha people and relative northern communities. Her practice draws on personal and familial histories, alongside state archives and media, to reflect on how Indigenous memories are shaped, silenced, carried in bodies and reclaimed.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2025 Indigenous Art Intensive Keynote Speakers Joseph Naytowhow Joseph Naytowhow is a gifted singer\/songwriter, accomplished stage and screen actor, orator and storyteller. His work includes voice, music, and storytelling for on-air plays with CBC, MBC, APTN and SCN. He is passionate and committed to the arts including collaborations, film, television, theatre, advisory and teaching as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93318,"featured_media":0,"parent":359,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-432","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/indigenousintensive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/indigenousintensive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/indigenousintensive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/indigenousintensive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/93318"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/indigenousintensive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/indigenousintensive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":526,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/indigenousintensive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/432\/revisions\/526"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/indigenousintensive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/indigenousintensive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}