We explore the world of a pre-eminent, abstract artist who paints “notably native”.

If there is a grandfather of Contemporary Indigenous art, it is Alex Janvier, a Denesuline man from Cold Lake, Alberta. As an artist, he stands alone in the realm of abstract painting. He is collected by several National Galleries worldwide and Alex is on every private art collector’s wish list. Art curator’s fuss over him wherever he goes. To have a Janvier on your wall is indeed a badge, a recognition that you know your… READ MORE

Photographer turned painter, we join this artist as she gets “Wrapped in Culture”.

Rosalie Favell is a Métis (Cree/English) artist born in 1958. Her body of work primarily features self-portrait photography with a wide spectrum of artistic embellishments added to each piece, collage-like imagery incorporating family photographs from her childhood, and clean and crisp portraits of contemporary Indigenous artists. READ MORE

A designer with passion and reverence for traditions is an advocate for cultural justice.

Lou-Ann Neel, is a descendant of the Mamalillikulla, Da’nax’daxw, Ma’amtagila, ‘Namgis and Kwagiulth tribes of the Kwakwaka’wakw (Kwak’wala-speaking people).

`In her home territory, the Kwak’wala names she carries are K’iditle’logw; Ika’wega and Ga’axstalas. READ MORE

From the carvers’ blade, Haida art unfolds history into a contemporary tale.

James “Jim” Hart is a Haida artist born in 1952 on Haida Gwaii, British Columbia.  He is best known for his painted and printed graphic designs, sculpted wooden monuments, cast bronze sculptures, and precious metal jewellery–all produced adhering to the ancient traditional design style of his Haida ancestors.  Jim’s home community is the village Old Massett located on northern Haida Gwaii… READ MORE

The contemporary art world meets a carrier of ideas with a sobering message.

The traditional art scene has been historically dominated by men. Today modern and contemporary art is witnessing a change in the dynamics of art exhibition, acquisition and dealership. Women are finally getting their due recognition as equal to or superior to, their male counterparts. Indigenous women are particularly active in the world of indigenous art. It is logical then that modern art… READ MORE

One of a kind, this artist has too many bad colonial days and he WILL kill the Indian Act.

If there is an artist out there who really has no fear of reprisal, t’is Lawrence Yuxweluptun Paul. Ask him why he paints and what inspires him, he tells you about the MMIWG inquiry, or he talks about his daughters. He’ll talk about the futility of land claims. Ask him about Canadian politics he can talk for hours on end without taking a break. You are at his studio in Vancouver, at his invitation. READ MORE

A visual artist who became a messenger of Glooscap, helping to bring the stories to life.

Arlene “Dozay” Christmas is a Wolastoqiyik artist who was born in 1954 on the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, Canada.  The Wolastoqiyik people are also known as the Maliseet and they are part of the Wabanaki Confederacy (Wolastoqiyik [Maliseet], Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, and Penobscot) and their territory includes areas in the Canadian provinces known as… READ MORE

Satire and irony find definition in the textiles and paintings of this Mik Mak woman.

Teresa Marshall was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, Canada, near the Millbrook First Nation, where she currently resides. 

She was born into two different cultures. Her mother is Mi’kmaq her dad is Canadian. READ MORE

Because we are still here – Skeena Reece makes meaning. 

Skeena Reece makes art that combines her own history, indigenous contemporary and historical experiences and brings her interior life and mind’s eye forward into the gallery or performance space through pulling it through her own body and others. She pulls memory and a critical consciousness through her actions, words and objects that all work within and around her ability to bring forth trickster tactics that reveal deep truism, profound insights and laughter. She is a… READ MORE

We get to witness whalebone transformed into an Inuit story, with songs and reverence.

Manasie grew up in a family of artists. His father and mother, Lazaroosee and Nakyuraq Akpaliapik are both sculptors in the community of Arctic Bay. His adopted grandparents, artists Peter and Elisapee Kanangnaq Ahlooloo, and his maternal great aunt Paniluk Qamanirq began to teach him to carve when he was about ten years old. He learned to carve by watching them, and as they carved… READ MORE

This is one artist who will tell and show us how Petroglyphs became Pixels.

Alan Syliboy was born and raised in Truro, Nova Scotia. Living in the Millbrook First Nations Mi’kmaq community, he is an artist, an author, a filmmaker and a musician. 

He has painted since childhood, often in secret, because of the strict… READ MORE

Connie Watts is a mixed media artist, whose work melds traditional west coast form and design with the complex modern world in which we live.

Connie Watts grew up in Campbell River. She is Nuu-Chah Nulth, Kwakwaka’wakw, and Gitxsan. She grew up as “the only brown face” at Evergreen Elementary School in Campbell River, with exposure to the images and traditions of her… READ MORE

This episode explores how art forms translate or are conceived in an indigenous language.

Making beautiful things by hand
The art we see, feel and remember.

The word for art in my language is as varied as the plants we eat. There is not one word, but many that describe the things we make out of ideas… READ MORE