Art Toronto 2023: Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, ON

Marcy Friesen

RBC Discover Section

Booth C43

For the 2023 iteration of Art Toronto, Fazakas Gallery is pleased to present Bead Artist Thoughts, a solo exhibition of new works by Marcy Friesen in the juried RBC Discover section. 

Marcy Friesen is of Swampy Cree and Welsh ancestry and currently resides on a mixed farm with her family near Carrot River, Saskatchewan. Having only a recent introduction to the contemporary art scene, Friesen brings forth her Swampy Cree practice of traditional beadwork and sewing in unexpected and critically creative ways. Throughout Friesen's work, materials like beads, leather, and furs are employed in ways that connect to the artist's cultural roots, while also transcending the original, utilitarian forms of objects like moccasins and mittens. This transition brings forth a contemplation on materiality, family stories, emotion, personal experience, and the love, loss, and life of Indigenous peoples in Canada. 

This body of work offers an intimate glimpse into Friesen's conceptual exploration of traditional beadwork and sewing. Rather than creating pairs, works like Deep Rooted (a single gauntlet) subvert traditional representation while evoking a subtle sense of loss and absence. Inventive objects such as beaded dollar bills and saltine crackers encapsulate ancestral memories amid present times, archiving the "bead artist's" daily life and fostering new dialogues within the realm of contemporary critical discourse.