Films on women inspired artist

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Artist Heather Shillinglaw never expected to be so moved by a film. But something asbout "Places Not Our Own," a film that chronicles the social ostracism

of a Metis family forced to live as squatters in the 1930's, touched a raw nerve.

The result was an artwork entitled "The Traveller," one of 14 emotionally turbulent works inspired by a series of films on Metis woman. "The artwork is my emotional response to the portrait of Metis woman as portrayed in the films," Shillinglaw said.

The films, from the national Film Board's Daughters of the Country series, incldue Women in the Shadows, a docu-drama about a Metis woman's search for her identity. The films and Shillinglaw's display, Metis Woman, A Progressions Through Time, were shown recently at the Coin Low Theatre at Canada Place. Both were part of 1993 Works: A Visual Art Celebration.

A second-year Alberta College of Art student, Shillinglaw said her artwork is also about understanding herself as a Metis woman. Much like Christine Welsh in Women in the Shadows, Shillinglaw said nurturing her Metis identity was not encouraged within her family.

"It was something you just didn't discuss. It was like a skeleton in the closet."

Yet something stirred her to explore her missing heritage. She went ahead and researched her past and discovered where her Metis roots came from. And then there were the films. "I began my spiritual journey," she said.

Shillinglaw's "The Traveller" shows a solitary figure on horseback. This piece is set out from the background of the painting, which is a ripped-up map a Canada.

"It represents the separation between the people and the land," she said.

In a piece inspired by Women in the Shadows, she placed sage, moss and a rose on a mirrored background to represent the search for identity. Shillinglaw prefers using symbolism, abstracts and realism when creating her art. Her pieces are thoughtful and though provoking. An emotional energy radiates from every piece. Thanks to a scholarship from the Native Arts Foundation, she is able to continue exploring her roots in a most intriguing way.