Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg artist honoured with Barbara Laronde Emerging Artist Award

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY — Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg artist Candace Twance was honoured to be recognized with the Native Women in the Arts (NWIA) 7th Annual Barbara Laronde Emerging Artist Award on April 15. Created to honour the legacy of NWIA founder Sandra Laronde and her vision and commitment to Indigenous artists, the award celebrates and acknowledges the career of one outstanding, emerging, northern Ontario-based Indigenous Gender Marginalized artist.

“I feel really honoured — it’s a great award, being that it’s for artists working in the north,” says Twance, who has degrees in Fine Arts and Psychology, respectively. “I see myself as an entrepreneur managing my art practice, so it is really helpful to receive an award like this. It is encouraging and it’s motivating to keep working and stay committed to that role in my life as an artist.”

Twance, who has a website at: www.candacetwance.com, says one of the challenges with being an artist in the north is the difficulty of breaking into the art scene due to being located so far from larger urban centres.

“But something that is really great about it is that here in Thunder Bay we do have a thriving art community, and that can feel very supportive with those relationships to other local community members,” Twance says. “And of course, this area is my homeland so I do really love my home; I love where I live, I love working here, and it’s also part of what inspires my artwork.”

Twance says a lot of the inspiration for her artwork comes from Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg, noting that her roots are in the community and the landscape, waterways, and shoreline.

“These are all the things I think about when I’m creating my abstract work,” Twance says. “Some of my compositions are based around the landscape or land forms, sort of like a topographical map, not literally by any means, but I always think about land and the materials I am using. The materials I am using are very much linked to land and linked to how my family has worked on that land for years.”

Twance, whose art practice is based on mixed-medium abstract painting, heavily informed by Anishinabek thought, philosophy and wisdom, also received a $5,000 prize along with the award.

“That’s supportive just to keep working, to have materials, and contribute to your studio space,” Twance says, noting that she has been creating artwork since she graduated from high school. “I was quite young when I started showing and selling my work, and it’s always been at a local level. I did continue on to university, I have received my art degree, so I’ve always been working but I also juggle many other things in my life — like I am a mother.”

Twance says art is part of her family’s lifestyle.

“I might be painting and my younger son will be sculpting,” Twance says. “We talk to each other about art and all the different ways to be creative. I’m happy to have them see me work, to know that mom is an artist and mom works in this way.”

Twance says her goal is to have her own solo exhibition in Thunder Bay and in other galleries beyond Thunder Bay.

“My work has become very abstract and there is a focus on materials I am using — I am working with things like fur, beads, horsehair, metal, and it’s materials that I would see my grandmother work with when she was working as a leather worker or a beadwork artisan,” Twance says. “I feel like I am using these materials in a deconstructed way, kind of in a raw way, and incorporating them into the artwork that I see as contemporary. So, the focus is placed on kind of a tactile quality and sort of honouring those materials that Anishinaabe people have used for many years, historically and presently, but I’m applying them in mixed media abstract paintings.”

NWIA recognizes the specific barriers that many northern artists face and aims to support Indigenous artists from the north by creating connections, professional development and performance opportunities through their programming initiatives.

“On behalf of the board and staff of NWIA, we are thrilled to present this award to Candace Twance, and to recognize her commitment to the development of her artistic practice,” says Ariel Smith, artistic director at NWIA. “We are confident that Candace has a great future ahead of her and wish her, the shortlisted candidates, as well as all of the nominees the very best in their endeavours.”

The five shortlisted nominees, who were each acknowledged with a $1,500 award, were Faith Turner, Naomi Desrochers, Ruby Thompson, Lynsey Kapera, and Cheryl Suggashie.

Information about the 7th Annual Barbara Laronde Emerging Artist Award is posted online.