20.3 x 10.2 x 8.9 cm
Art Toronto
October 27 - 30, 2022
Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front Street West, Toronto, ON M5V 2W6
RANDE COOK PROJECT SPACE
A Breath of Life, Into the Future
Combining traditional and contemporary art forms over his career, Rande Cook has developed a poetically hybrid and critically-acclaimed body of work with his highly personalized style of contemporary Indigenous art. Taking material inspiration from the old-growth forests of the Pacific Northwest Coast and Mother Earth, as well as ancient Kwakwaka'wakw philosophy, Cook's art narrates traditional Indigenous knowledge with various contemporary visual materials and motifs, while often bearing with them lyrical rhythms of nature and evocations of modern ecological consciousness.
BOOTH A22
Jason Baerg (b. 1970) is a Toronto-based Cree Métis artist, raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and graduated with a Masters of Fine Arts from Rutgers University. As a visual artist, he pushes new boundaries in digital interventions in drawing, painting, and new media installation. Notable international solo exhibitions include the Luminato Festival in Toronto, Canada, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia, and the Digital Dome at the Institute of the American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Baerg has sat on numerous art juries and won awards through such facilitators as the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and The Toronto Arts Council.
Joe David (b. 1946, Opitsaht, BC) is a master carver and one of the most important proponents in the revival of traditional Nuu-Chah-Nulth carving and design. He is a leading figure in modern Northwest Coast Indigenous art. David is a member of the Tla-O-Qui-Aht First Nation. He began carving while living in Seattle, where he apprenticed with Duane Pasco and studied under Northwest Coast art historian Bill Holm. David's work can be found in public and private collections, including the Royal British Columbia Museum, the Canadian Museum of History, and the UBC Museum of Anthropology.
Chief Beau Dick, Walas Gwa'yam (1955-2017), was a Kwakwaka'wakw (Musgamakw Dzawada'enuxw First Nation) artist and activist. He was born in the community of Alert Bay, B.C., and lived in Kingcome Inlet, Vancouver, and Victoria before returning to Alert Bay to live and work. He began carving at an early age, studying under his father, Benjamin Dick, his grandfather, James Dick, and other renowned artists such as Henry Hunt and Doug Cranmer. He also worked alongside master carvers Robert Davidson, Tony Hunt, and Bill Reid. Dick created several important public works, including a transformation mask for the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 86 in Vancouver and the Ga'akstalas Totem Pole for Stanley Park, carved with Wayne Alfred and raised in 1991. His work has been shown in exhibitions around the world, including at the Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, B.C. (1976); Canada House, London, United Kingdom (1998); the 17th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2010); and Documenta 14 in Athens, Greece, and Kassel, Germany (2017). He was the recipient of the 2012 VIVA Award and was artist-in-residence at the University of British Columbia's Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory from 2013 to 2017.
Marcy Friesen is of Swampy Cree and Welsh ancestry and currently resides on a mixed farm with her family near Carrot River, SK. She comes from a long line of traditional master beaders and talented creative family members. Marcy has always felt the need to create and started her career with her Trapline Creations business where she makes utilitarian pieces such as mitts and mukluks. After visiting the Remai Modern in Saskatoon, she changed her focus to creating "useless" pieces of art. Marcy now uses beads, leather, and furs in new and exciting ways to open discussions on mental health issues. Her piece Muskrat Tears was included in Montreal's Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA) from April to June 2020, and two of her beaded COVID-19 masks were on view at the Whyte Museum in Banff, AB from September 24, 2020 - January 17, 2021.
Audie Murray (b. 1993) is a multi-disciplinary Métis artist from Saskatchewan currently based in Regina. Working with themes of contemporary Indigenous culture and ideas of duality and connectivity, Murray draws on time honoured techniques and contemporary concepts to inform her material choices. Murray completed a Diploma in Visual Arts at Camosun College in 2016 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Regina in 2017. Her BFA graduating work, Pair of Socks, was selected as the Saskatchewan winner of the 2017 BMO 1st Art! Prize, and in 2018 she was the recipient of the William and Meredith Saunderson Prize through the Hnatyshyn Foundation. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions across Canada and the US. Recently, the Nanaimo Art Gallery presented Murray's solo exhibition, Pawatamihk, from October 22, 2021 to January 9, 2022.
Mungo Martin (b. 1879) was born in Fort Rupert, BC. A member of the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nation, Martin was taught the traditional arts by his stepfather, well-known artist Charlie James. Martin received his first commission for a totem pole ca 1900. Titled Raven of the Sea, it was installed at Alert Bay. The University of British Columbia approached Martin in 1948 to oversee their totem pole restoration program, to carve new poles, and to teach the craft to apprentices. Martin also worked with ethnographers and anthropologists recording approximately 400 oral histories and songs, both at the University of British Columbia and the Royal British Columbia Provincial Museum in Victoria. Martin worked on the restoration and replication of old totem poles until his death in 1962. In addition to carving totem poles, Martin built a ceremonial big house at Thunderbird Park at the Royal British Columbia Museum, called the Mungo Martin House or Wawadit'la. Its house posts bear the crests of the three Nakapankam clans and the opening ceremony in 1953 marked the first potlatch after the ban was lifted. For his efforts, Martin was awarded the Canada Council medal in 1961. He passed away the following year.
October 27, 2022
Invite-Only Preview
4PM - 9PM
October 28
VIP: 11AM - NOON
Public: NOON - 8PM
October 29
VIP: 11AM - NOON
Public: NOON - 8PM
October 30
VIP: 11AM - NOON
Public: NOON - 6PM
