Visual Arts Nova Scotia and Visual Arts News, in partnership with the Native American Art Studies Association and Nocturne: Art at Night Festival, present an in-person keynote panel discussion: Activating Art in Mi’kma’ki on Thursday, October 12, from 6 – 8 pm.

Moderating the discussion is Tiffany Morris, an L’nu’skw (Mi’kmaw) artist and writer from Kjipuktuk (Halifax), Nova Scotia, who will discuss with Jordan Bennett, Jordan Hill, Amy Malbeuf, Carrie Allison and Melissa Peter-Paul their lived experiences in Mi’kma’ki, how their environments contribute to the type of work they create, and offer insight into their work being exhibited as part of Nocturne this year.

Activating Art in Mi’kma’ki will be held at the Paul O’Regan Hall at the Halifax Central Library on Thursday, October 12, 2023, from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm.

ASL Interpretation will be available at the event, and a recording with closed captioning will be provided at a later date. Admission is free and seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, please visit the Nocturne at www.nocturnehalifax.ca.

NOTE: Due to illness, artists Jordan Bennett and Amy Malbeuf and moderator Tiffany Morris will not be able to participate. Aiden Gillis, Indigenous Arts Programmer at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, will moderate the panel discussion.

The organizers would like to acknowledge that the event is being hosted on the unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq peoples. This event is supported by the HRM Professional Art Grant Funding. 

PANELISTS

Amy Malbeuf is a multidisciplinary visual artist from Rich Lake, Alberta, Canada. She utilises a variety of mediums including performance, installation, sculpture, caribou hair tufting, beadwork, and digital media. Malbeuf has exhibited and performed nationally.

Jordan Hill is a Canadian (T’Sou-ke Nation) multimedia artist currently residing in Halifax. His work alludes to a growing problem within contemporary culture where the line between fact and fiction becomes blurred. How do we navigate a manipulated world where truth is incredibly difficult to locate? Through the intersection of digital and physical environments, he questions the relationship between the notion of both real and virtual subjects. Jordan’s work aims to intervene normalized social and spatial assumptions we make upon being introduced to spaces, and in what ways we allow the artificial to undermine our own intuition.

Carrie Allison: I am a nêhiýaw/cree, Métis, and mixed European descent multidisciplinary visual artist based in K’jipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki (Halifax, Nova Scotia). I grew up on the unceded and unsurrendered lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lō and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations. My maternal roots and relations are based in maskotewisipiy (High Prairie, Alberta), Treaty 8.  I hold a Master in Fine Art, a Bachelor in Art History, and a Bachelor in Fine Art from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University. My work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. I was the 2020 recipient of the Melissa Levin Award from the Textile Museum of Canada and was long listed for the 2021 Sobey Art Award. My work has been shown in Canadian Art, Elle Quebec, Esse and Visual Arts News.

Melissa Peter Paul is a Mi’kmaw woman from Abegweit First Nation, located on Epekwitk (PEI.) Growing up, Melissa was immersed in cultural teachings and was surrounded by a family of basket makers. She began her artistic expression at a young age, making regalia and beadwork, and is skilled in both traditional and contemporary styles. Melissa’s exposure to other Mi’kmaq artforms led her to quillwork, a traditional skill in which the ancestors of her maternal grandfather excelled. Melissa was accepted into an apprenticeship with Mi’kmaq Quill Art in 2015. Her training was grounded in the traditional insertion technique and utilized the study of both cultural teachings and formal material culture resources available through historic publications and museums. Quillwork is created by inserting porcupine quills, either dyed or kept natural, into birchbark. The pieces are then edged with quills, sweetgrass or spruce root. Over the course of her apprenticeship, Melissa learned techniques and protocols related to harvesting raw materials, as well as the complex geometry of traditional design work. Upon completion of her apprenticeship, Melissa has been integral in establishing a community of skilled quill workers. This community of quillers seeks to expand awareness of the artform and recently began working on collaborative projects. Melissa launched her professional career as a Mi’kmaq quill artist with her first solo exhibit at Receiver Coffee presented by This Town is Small in Charlottetown in 2019. She is heavily influenced by 20th century Mi’kmaw quillwork and she is supported in her harvesting efforts by her family. Melissa is proud to be passing the art on to her two sons and the broader community.

Jordan Bennett is a Mi’kmaw visual artist from Stephenville Crossing, Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland). He lives and works on his ancestral territory of Mi’kma’ki in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Jordan’s ongoing practice utilizes painting, sculpture, textiles, video, installation, public art and sound to explore land, language, the act of visiting, familial histories and challenging colonial perceptions of Indigenous histories and presence with a focus on exploring Mi’kmaq and Beothuk visual culture. In the past 10 years Jordan has participated in over 90 group and solo exhibitions nationally and internationally, as well as created numerous public art commissions.  Jordan is currently working towards several public artworks nationally as well as group and solo exhibitions, including the upcoming solo show “Souvenir” curated by Ryan Rice at onSITE Gallery at OCAD in Toronto, ON. He has been the recipient of several awards and honours most notably he has been long listed for the 2015 and 2016 Sobey Art Award, was shortlisted for the 2018 Awards and was a long list winner in 2020 along with being a 2019 recipient of the Van Houtte Masters’ Fund Program, a Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL award and presented with the 2014 Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Councils Artist of the Year.

MODERATOR

Tiffany Morris is an L’nu’skw artist and writer from K’jipuktuk (Halifax), Nova Scotia. Her artwork has appeared in group exhibitions in Halifax and Los Angeles, as well as in Redwire Magazine. Her art reviews have appeared in Visual Arts News and she is the author of the eco horror novella Green Fuse Burning, forthcoming from Stelliform Press in October 2023.

Watch the recording of the panel discussion: Activating Art in Mi’kma’ki!

Presented by Visual Arts Nova Scotia (VANS) and Visual Arts News, in partnership with the Native American Art Studies Association and Nocturne: Art at Night Festival, this in-person keynote panel discussion took place at the Paul O’Regan Hall at the Halifax Central Library in Kjipuktuk on Thursday, October 12, from 6-8 pm.

Panelists: Melissa Peter Paul, Jordan Hill, Carrie Allison

Moderator: Aiden Gillis

Click here to watch the full recording.