Tag: Breathe

Submitted by: Lisa Shepherd, Métis Artist

Materials: velveteen, glass beads, ribbon, cotton lining, tin cones, hand-tied tassels. Lii Michif was commissioned by Museum Natur und Mensch, Germany

I want you to see the movement of the lines and hear in them the sound of the fiddle and the muffled horse-cantered step sound of the moccasins on the wood floor. I want you to know the connection of this to the buffalo runner horses and the fiddler on the prairie plains, practicing for the great buffalo hunt, and to realize that this is where the RCMP got the idea for their Musical Ride.

I want you to see the blue of the ribbons and to know they go with the tan leathery wrinkles of my grandmother’s face and her striking blue eyes that would stop you in your tracks. The Blue Eyed Grandmother, with her full, aproned belly that cradled many babies lovingly; brought life from spirit through water and to this world. She had skillful hands that pulled thread through fabric and beads, outfitting the entire big family out of necessity. After Grandpa passed, she drove the Team for the trading company, steadying the horse on the ferry that pulled away too soon, she in the cart, bobbing along on the North Saskatchewan River.

I want you to see this mask that, rather than hiding my face, exposes my identity, and wonder about the stories that Great Auntie told me, in trade for a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken. Years later, whenever I pass a KFC, it’s my heart that smells those spices first. Auntie kept our stories, and in her 90+ years was still quick as a whip and could recall all the birthdates and death dates and all the life in between the two. Those stories are for me, and my family, and if you are dear to me, I might share a few.

I share these stories through my beadwork, and hope they inspire you to embrace your own authentic stories that are personal to you.

Lii Michif was created in British Columbia, Canada, by commission for the Museum Natur und Mensch, Germany

Submitted by: Michelle Beauvais, finger weaver

Materials:

Best Wishes! to you and family.

This mask was created for the Breathe community Facebook group – A collection of traditionally crafted masks demonstrating resiliency through 21st century pandemic.

Submitted by: Michelle Beauvais, tisserande (off-loom)

Materials: Very fine worsted wool / retwist and wax

Tissage aux doigts / Finger weaving / Indian connection from North East of America
Ma version d’un motif dit Assomption

This mask was created for the Breathe community Facebook group – A collection of traditionally crafted masks demonstrating resiliency through 21st century pandemic.

Submitted by: Celina Loyer – Cree Métis

Materials: Traditionally finger woven acrylic yarn

Our fur trade ancestors used the sash as a tool: a belt, a rope, a tumpline. With this mask, the sash is transformed into our tool of survival during the pandemic. Based on the ancient Assomption ceinture flechée pattern and colours, the unique shape of this mask springs from creativity and necessity. Completely woven by hand, sashes usually remain the same width. Shaping the sash to fit the face requires ingenuity and perseverance.

The sash is not perfect – changes in thread tension create imperfections in the weave. As we progress through the stages of the pandemic, tension affects people too, revealing flaws and inspiring adaptation of old ways to a new normal.

Our people have faced pandemic before: smallpox, influenza, TB. Yet we persevere. The means to survival can feel heavy or stifling, yet we will continue to do what is necessary to ensure our culture thrives.

Just breathe.

Images: Veridian Photography
Model: Jessie Loyer

This mask was created for the Breathe community Facebook group – A collection of traditionally crafted masks demonstrating resiliency through 21st century pandemic.

Submitted by: Adele ᒪᐢᑿᓱᐏᐢᑵᐤ Arseneau

Materials:

Handmade Mask by Adele maskwasowiskwew Arseneau

As an indigenous woman, I’ve largely passed through this existence feeling like I have no voice. Most of my art has been focused on creating around the endangered stories of others, to put them up on the proverbial soapbox, making them personable and real. It never occurred to me to tell my own story, with its roots so intertwined with this land now called Canada. All of my portrait carvings reflect this journey, with most of them only having the suggestion of a mouth. My hands do the speaking as they create the pieces I make. Using everything I am given, like my kohkoms before me. Appreciating the materials, and the memories they bring. Each piece is like a reflection, capturing a moment in my life. Beading my anxiety away, each bead a breathe. Each stitch sewing me back into my culture, bringing with it remembering, intertwining me with my roots, making me stronger and more whole. Several elements come from family stories, the arrow sash – to remember how my family stood alongside One Arrow and his Nation before the territories became Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Buffalo hide to remember the bull taken at Pink Mountain where my father was Captain of the Hunt. Abalone buttons passed down through the family from mother to daughter, traded from the coast to the prairies, and now returned. Horsehair and flower beadwork to honor my nehiyaw mother and my Métis father. Ocean Jasper and the blue palette – as air and water walk hand in hand and we cannot live without either. Everything has a place in this world, like beads – we do best when we are put where we can shine. It’s all part of a larger picture, this is how something small can impact something larger than ourselves. We all need to tell our stories because someone out there needs to hear them.

Submitted as part of Breathe, curated by Nathalie Bertin and Lisa Shepherd.

Adele maskwasowiskwew Arseneau, is an emerging nehiyaw (Cree) – Métis visual artist. Creating traditional and contemporary beadwork, along with carving red and yellow cedar – she tells stories to engage audiences around social and environmental issues. This is her language and these are her stories.

This mask was created for the Breathe community Facebook group – A collection of traditionally crafted masks demonstrating resiliency through 21st century pandemic.

Submitted by: Amanda

Materials: Faux suede, beads, shoe strings

Researchers and psychologists have said for years that humans are social creatures, and we have an innate need to be around other people. Studies show that people who are more connected with others are healthier and happier overall. Psysical distancing is not a natural or pleasant behavior. I asked my children what they’ll remember most about this pandemic, and to my surprise they all answered the same thing- just being alone. We talked about why we’re apart from our friends and community, but how we’re also together. The conversation ultimately made me think of trees. Trees appear to stand alone and apart, but their roots run deep and the truth is that they cooperate and communicate all the time. No matter how it may appear we’re never truly alone, because deep down we’re a community that cares about each other. We’re all in this together.

This mask was created for the Breathe community Facebook group – A collection of traditionally crafted masks demonstrating resiliency through 21st century pandemic.

Submitted by: Margaret

Materials: Melton cloth, seed beads, wool

This mask was created for the Breathe community Facebook group – A collection of traditionally crafted masks demonstrating resiliency through 21st century pandemic.