The Art of Faye HeavyShield arrives at WAG-Qaumajuq

A must-see retrospective exploring the creative career of a celebrated artist

Winnipeg, Manitoba, April 25, 2023: The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG)-Qaumajuq is thrilled to welcome The Art of Faye HeavyShield to Winnipeg. Organized and circulated by the MacKenzie Art Gallery, this exhibition presents work that spans 40 years of art practice from a major contributor to contemporary Indigenous art.

Faye HeavyShield, who is a Blackfoot (Blood) woman from the Kainai territory, is known for her installations, drawings, and writing imbued with ancestral and personal memory, celebration of kinship, and stories of home and place.

Arising from an intensive research project led by curator Felicia Gay and guided by the personal ties between the artist and curator, this exhibition is multi-faceted in its approach. The Art of Faye HeavyShield is built on the bones of memory and story and embraces an ethic of relationality, making this exhibition an unmissable encounter with the work of this celebrated visual artist.

Join us this Friday, April 28 at 7:00pm, with doors at 6:30pm, for an opening celebration featuring remarks from artist Faye HeavyShield, curator Felicia Gay, and WAG-Qaumajuq Director and CEO Stephen Borys. Enjoy the cash bar and explore the exhibition! Admission is FREE.

Quick Facts:

• 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’s work grows out of her experience as a Blood woman and cultural matriarch, resulting in a potent post-minimalist aesthetic that differentiates her from other senior artists of her territory.
• The Art of Faye HeavyShield is organized and circulated by the MacKenzie Art Gallery, and has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada. This exhibition and tour would not be possible without support from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Museum Assistance Program.
• Join us on Friday, April 28 at 7:00pm, with doors at 6:30pm, for an opening celebration featuring remarks from artist Faye HeavyShield, curator Felicia Gay, and WAG-Qaumajuq Director and CEO Stephen Borys. Enjoy the cash bar and explore the exhibition! Exhibition openings are FREE for everyone.
• The Art of Faye HeavyShield will be open to the public from April 29, 2023, to August 27, 2023.

Quotes:

“Faye HeavyShield’s work speaks with an inviting voice, welcoming everyone. Both Faye and Felicia have approached this exhibition with a thoughtfulness and strength that shines.”

— Dr. Stephen Borys, Director & CEO, WAG-Qaumajuq

“The sophisticated way in which Faye offers up a multivalent concept of relationality through her art is both a consideration of her own life and thoughts contained within the work as well as a knowledge that is informed to her through her Blackfoot language. The words are spoken in solitude and the words are spoken in company and its animated presence is felt throughout Faye’s work; it is embedded within the process of her artmaking, expressed within every abstraction, and made alive within the materiality of her art.”

— Felicia Gay, Curatorial Fellow, MacKenzie Art Gallery

“Welcoming Faye’s beautiful work to WAG-Qaumajuq is such an honour and a privilege. Her art is a materialization of love and kinship; love of her Blood culture, language and community; love of her family, ancestors, and the ones to come. I hope everyone who comes to see the exhibition is as inspired as I am by this incredible artist.”

— Marie-Anne Redhead, Assistant Curator of Indigenous Art, WAG-Qaumajuq

Support

WAG-Qaumajuq thanks the Government of Canada for their generous support. This exhibition and tour would not be possible without support from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Museum Assistance Program.

Associated Links

The Art of Faye HeavyShield
MacKenzie Art Gallery The Art of Faye HeavyShield
Opening Celebration: The Art of Faye HeavyShield

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For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact:

Hanna Waswa
Public Relations Officer
Winnipeg Art Gallery
204.789.1295
hwaswa@wag.ca

The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG)-Qaumajuq is a cultural advocate using art to connect, inspire, and inform. Playing a dynamic role in the community, we are a place for learning, dialogue, and enjoyment through art. Opened in March 2021, Qaumajuq connects to the WAG on all levels, celebrating the largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art in the world. The new WAG-Qaumajuq cultural campus is now one of the largest art museums in Canada. To learn more visit wag.ca.

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