Indigenous artists panel explores Woodland Style during Thunder Bay Art Gallery’s summer celebration
By Rick Garrick
THUNDER BAY – A group of Indigenous artists discussed new expressions of Woodland Style during the Thunder Bay Art Gallery’s Summer Celebration Opening Party for the Woodland Pop! exhibition on June 24.
“I definitely think it’s having a moment, especially with all the young artists making their own versions of the Woodland Style and bringing their own experiences and their own stories,” says Fort William artist Ryan Pooman. “It is amazing and it inspired me — the artists have their own stories and their own way of expressing that and you can definitely tell with all the different styles, from the 3D art to sculpture.”
Pooman says he created two rabbit art pieces for the Woodland Pop! exhibition, one light and one dark to represent the fall and spring.
“I’ve been doing art for the past 10 years — I’m a tattoo artist but just recently started doing the Woodland art,” Pooman says. “I do all my work digitally and I just wanted a good contrast piece, so light and dark.”
Shelby Gagnon, an artist from Aroland, says her mural painting, Matriarchal Flow, which she painted in the front foyer for the Woodland Pop! exhibition, is about how Anishinaabekwe connect to water, to healing, and to the moon and the cycles of life.
“I just wanted to honour the water, especially being here in Thunder Bay surrounded by water all the time and the crazy spring we had with so much water and such strong flow,” Gagnon says. “It kind of represented the busy and fast-paced motion that we are all living right now.”
Gagnon says her Red Healing painting is a take on the Redbird matches she uses in ceremony and in her art.
“I actually use the match sticks I had previously used for smudging to create effects of smoke, and actually glued the match sticks on [the painting),” Gagnon says. “So kind of looking at a holistic way of how we take care of ourselves, each other in community.”
Quinn Hopkins, whose grandmother was from Batchewana First Nation, says he began creating art on the computer after losing his space for painting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m inspired by the land,” Hopkins says. “I spend as much time as I can outdoors but my practice is mostly indoors these days.”
Hopkins collaborated with Blake Angeconeb, an artist from Lac Seul, on a digital animation/NFT art piece, Bakwene Makwa, Anishinabemowin for A Smokey Bear.
“I think what is kind of fuelling the revitalizing of Woodland art is the internet,” Hopkins says. “For me, sharing and connecting is what art is for and I found a new community of Woodland artists through the internet that is really driving the style into more pop culture. We’re sharing the pop culture references that we relate to and it’s also showing how we see the world.”
The Woodland Pop! exhibition, which runs from June 24-Sept. 25, also features seven other Indigenous artists: Christian Chapman, Michel Dumont, Sharon Goodison, Bree Island, Fallon Simard, Rihkee Strapp, and Jonathan Thunder.
“The exhibition is inspired by artists who are Indigenizing pop culture,” says Cynthia Nault, community engagement coordinator at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery and Red Rock Indian Band citizen. “The show features a wide range of mediums including acrylic paintings, digital paintings, there’s some NFTs, there’s some tattoo art. It’s a really great show for people to explore if they wanted to learn more about the Woodland Style because the show is so accessible being that it is so colourful and full of pop culture.”
The Summer Celebration Opening Party also featured free tacos in a bag by the Bannock Lady, which is owned by Jeanette Posine, a Pays Plat citizen.