Art Beyond the Bush – Artist Talk by Heather Shillinglaw

Presenter: Heather Shillinglaw

Join exhibiting artist, Heather Shillinglaw, as she speaks about her art, travels, and culture.

Admission by donation.

Heather Shillinglaw, a Metis artist, in memory and in practice looked to her Awas Nohkom’s (Grandmothers from before) by looking into the bush for healing, life and sustainability. In the stories they passed down; carrying all they owned with them, balancing their lives with the landscape and following the buffalo and the seasons.

Her art practice rejuvenates her soul by keeping a foot in the past and moving forward with a foot in her studio to bring her art to a higher level. Wrapped up in her history, measuring all her life experiences, she embarks on a journey with her husband a year after art college through 14 countries, which whets her appetite for travel. Backpacking as far south as the Straits of Magellan, traveling began to be reflected in her art and she began to feel “with the wind”.Her experiences weave ideas of design beadwork, found materials, painting, sewing, and sculpture, bringing forward a cacophony of ideas to convey multiple messages to the viewer.

Working with anthropologists and the medicine women of the Maputches and Guarani indigenous tribes in Paraguay and Argentina, combined with Historians and Scholars help make her art blend concepts of body, mind and spirit

Paramount to her practice is sharing of knowledge through workshops and school programs. Using land based philosophies and narration to achieve their masterpieces, she encourages young and old to listen to nature and try to convey their own voice from beyond the bush.In her instructional studio practice she teaches her own philosophy of MEAM: ‘Metis Ecological, Arts Message’ as another layer of land based learning methods. Thousand of students, taught in hundreds of schools, on reservations, community programs, and workshops abroad with information exchanges to South America and Europe.

She is currently employed by The Art Gallery of St Albert as the Indigenous Visual Arts Programmer. Her dream is to bring her message to the community on a regular basis. Her work has shown in public spaces, museums, and galleries in three continents, the passion of her art is to share its message to the world, and how art can convey a voice from and beyond the bush.