Exhibit puts forth a good face

Page R7

A ceramic bust of Louis Riel with maple leaves bursting from the back of his head. Sculptures of horn and bone. Paintings of powwows and the Bear Spirit.

Those are some of the Faces of Family Pride, an exhibit by 20 Native artists.

Metis artist and student Heather Shillinglaw put together the exhibit, which just finished showing at Edmonton's The Works visual arts festival.

The exhibit came about from Shillinglaw's desire to explore certain themes in her art and to give other Aboriginal artists the chance to expand on Native-driven themes.

"In my personal experience, I felt frustrated," said Heather Shillinglaw. "I wanted to exhibit in a Native art show around certain focuses."

Opportunities to show her work seemed few and far between. So Shillinglaw resolved to create an exhibit herself.

Shillinglaw, a third-year student at Calgary's Alberta College of Art, decided to put together Faces of Family Pride in December, 1993.

"I wanted to create opportunities for some of the emerging artists," she said.

The 22-year-old was so committed to the show she quit work at the Indigena exhibit at the Glenbow Museum to concentrate on her exhibit.

She attracted a number of major sponsors, including Women of the Metis Nation and the Alberta Art Foundation. Shillinglaw received $20,000 in funding for the show.

Along with the selection jury of five artists and critics, Shillinglaw picked the art for the exhibit.

"Most of the artists were showing for the first or second time here," she noted.

Shillinglaw organized the exhibit around the idea of identity and how it relates to an individual's surroundings.

"Pride is the core of what defines each of us as individuals," said Shillinglaw.

"It is also a way of defining our identity through our heritage."

Shillinglaw says the show let the artists share, through their personal visions, pride in their family and community.

At the opening of the show that pride was evident. Shillinglaw invited Elder Victor Thunderchild to bless the art, and a number of singers, poets and storytellers provided entertainment.

As for the art, it made use of almost every medium available. Joseph Lazore and Art Napolean, for instance, contributed videoworks, while Rocky Barstad contributed two bronze sculptures.

Dean Dreaver presented silver jewelry, and Mike La Rocque displayed a sculpture made of ceramic, steel, bronze and glass.

Ernie Whitford carved his Native Spirit from Montana soapstone, while Holly La Roche showed a totemic-looking work of painted bone and horn.

Shirley Shillinglaw, Heather's mother, had a number of works, including an acrylic painting, a painting on leather surrounded with beadwork, pheasant feathers, buffalo wood and rabbit fur and a painted cattle skull.

Shillinglaw says she's disappointed with attendance of the show during The Works. Only 293 people came to the exhibit.

But people who missed the exhibit will have another opportunity to see Faces of Family Pride during Edmonton's Dreamspeaker's Festival, August 25-28.