ABOUT... CLAUDE LATOUR

Claude Latour, is an Algonquin video and photo based artist whose works deal with cultural and socio- political themes. His works have been inspired by his travels throughout North America, Europe, and Central Africa. In 1996 he received his Diploma of Fine Arts from the CEGEP De L’Outaouais’s Heritage College and in 2001 his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Ottawa. He has participated in group shows at Ottawa City Hall, the Ottawa Art Gallery and Cube Gallery in Ottawa where he resides.

ABOUT... MICHELLE LAVALLEE

Michelle LaVallee is of Ojibway ancestry, and a member of the Chippewas of Nawash Band, Cape Croker, Ontario. Born in Newmarket, Ontario, she currently resides in Toronto. Michelle graduated from York University in 2000 with an Honours B.A, Degree in Fine Arts. Since graduation she has travelled extensively throughout western and eastern Europe, returning to York University, where she completed her Bachelor of Education with a fine arts emphasis in 2004.

Working primarily in acrylics and mixed media, her later paintings and drawings at university reflected traditional Native iconography. She worked with these ideas to represent them in a different, personal and sometimes sarcastic manner; in order to address issues and develop an understanding of her heritage. Michelle was recently accepted as the first curatorial trainee for the Association for Native Development in the Performing and Visual Arts. She has curated two shows for Neekawinsidok 2005, part of First Nations City Celebration at Toronto City Hall and ANDPVA’s 9th Annual Fine Arts Exhibit as part of the Canadian Aboriginal Festival Pow Wow.

During the past year Michelle’s personal interests have enabled her to explore various levels of community consultations at her home reserve and as far away as El Salvador. This has further enhanced her personal sensitivity to issues regarding the histories and range of work produced by indigenous artists both locally and globally. BACK TO TOP

ABOUT... LEANNE L’HIRONDELLE

Leanne L’Hirondelle is Collections Curator at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre. She was Director of Urban Shaman Gallery, and Aboriginal curator in residence at A.K.A Gallery in Saskatoon. She has a BFA Honors, University of Manitoba, MFA, University of Saskatchewan and is presently working towards a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Art Theory and Criticism from the Art Institute of Chicago. Leanne has taught Indian Art History at the First Nations University of Canada, Saskatchewan and the University of Saskatchewan. BACK TO TOP

ABOUT... STEVE LOFT

Steven Loft is a Mohawk of the Six Nations. He is a curator, writer and media artist. He is currently the Director of the Urban Shaman Gallery, an Aboriginal artist run centre in Winnipeg. As well, he was formerly First Nations Curator at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and Artistic Director of the Native Indian/Inuit Photographers’ Association. He has curated The Very Soul of Me: Modern Artists Exploring the Spiritual, Unity of Nations: Contemporary First Nations Art and Language of Intercession, a touring exhibition of Aboriginal media and new media artists. He has also co-curated alt.shift.control: musings on digital identity and Machyderm: What is Wassailing…?. Loft’s video productions include Survival of the Fittest, Out of the Darkness, Tax This and 2510037901. His videos have been screened at festivals and galleries across Canada. He promises to be as pompous and self important in person as this bio makes him out to be! BACK TO TOP

ABOUT... AHASIW MASKEGON-ISKWEW

Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew is Métis from northern Alberta. He is editor of the online Aboriginal arts magazine ConunDrumOnline.ca that premiered April 2005 produced by Urban Shaman Gallery, and has recently completed work as rapporteur for the online performance art discussion After the Facts produced by Fado Performance Art. He is a graduate of Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. His initial practice in media-integrated performance art has evolved toward web-based media art, critical writing and curating.

In May 2005 Maskegon-Iskwew was awarded a two year Aboriginal curatorial residency grant by the Canada Council for the Arts to pursue the theme Storm Spirits: The Cultural Ecology of Aboriginal New Media Art at Urban Shaman Gallery. From 1987-90 he was Performance Art Program Coordinator, Gallery Administrator and Board Member for the Pitt Gallery in Vancouver. Subsequently, during a two year Equity Arts Administration Internship at the Canada Council he initiated, coordinated and wrote the report for a Canada Council First Peoples Languages Literature Recognition and Support Consultation Meeting in Vancouver (1994). While at an internship residency with the Aboriginal Film and Video Art Alliance at the Banff Centre, Maskegon-Iskwew wrote the report for the gathering Drumbeats to Drumbytes, on electronic networks for Aboriginal artists (1995). Maskegon-Iskwew went on to become Program Coordinator, Assistant Editor of Talking Stick First Nations Arts Magazine and Acting Executive Director for Circle Vision Arts Corp. He is a founding member of Sâk'W'Wak Artists' Collective; was Manager of SOIL Digital Media Suite at Neutral Ground Artist-Run Centre; and worked as digital community art producer with youth at risk and sex trade workers for Common Weal in Regina. He was also Web Editor for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network from 2000-2004. BACK TO TOP

ABOUT… CATHERINE MATTES

First Nations curator and writer Catherine Mattes was an active board member of Urban Shaman Gallery for four years, and has been involved with Nation2Nation, a national Aboriginal arts group. In her curatorial practice, Mattes focuses on Aboriginal issues and art, including Re:Collections – First Nations Photography, 1999, Winnipeg Art Gallery; Rielisms, 2000, and Blanket(ed), an exhibition and collaborative exchange between Urban Shaman Gallery and Boomalli Aboriginal Artists' Co-operative, Sydney, Australia (2001).

Mattes has contributed writings to Urban Shaman Gallery, MAWA, the Indian Art Centre, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Aboriginal Voices, and Border Crossings'. Mattes was the Curator in Residence at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and taught sessionally at Brandon University. She worked as Curator at the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba. Mattes earned an MA in art history from Concordia University in 1998 and a BA, University of Winnipeg in 1996. BACK TO TOP

ABOUT... MICHELLE MCGEOUGH

Michelle McGeough is a member of the Metis Nation of Alberta. Having completed a degree in Secondary Education from the University of Alberta, an Associate of Fine Arts degree from the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe as well as a diploma and B.F.A in media studies from Vancouver’s Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Michelle is currently completing her Masters degree in Canadian Art History at Carleton University. Her thesis entitled When Two World Views Collide: An Examination of a Selection of the Erotic Works of Norval Morrisseau, examines how Morrisseau’s depiction of the erotic unmasks and challenges the dominant narratives regarding sexuality, demonstrating a difference which Foucault has defined as ars erotica versus scientia sexualis. Michelle is also an accomplished artist whose work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. She currently resides in Ottawa, Ontario. BACK TO TOP

ABOUT... NADIA MYRE

Nadia Myre is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work is exhibited locally and internationally. In her sculptures, paintings, videos and writing, one finds recurring themes of love, desire, language, loss and identity. Recent solo exhibitions include Scar Stories, Third Space Gallery, Saint John, NB (2006), Skin Deep, or Poetry for the Blind, Queens University, Kingston, ON (2005) and Galerie Art Mur, Montréal, QC (2004); Indian Act, Grunt Gallery, Vancouver, BC (2002); and Cont(r)act, Galerie Oboro, Montréal, QC (2002). She has participated in group shows such as The American West, Compton Verney, Warwickshire, ENG (2005); Au Fils de Mes Jours, Musée National des beaux-arts du Quebec, Québec, QC (2005); Fabrics of Change / Trading Identities, University of Wollongong and Flinders University, Australia (2004); Beyond Words, Bishop's University, Lennoxville, QC (2004) and Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax (2003); and Sprawl, Museum London, London, ON (2003). Her work can be found in private and public collections across the country. She is the recipient of numerous awards from the Canada Council, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec, the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, and in 2004 an Eitlejorg Fellowship. Nadia is represented in Montreal by Galerie Art Mur. For more information please visit www.artmur.com or www.nadiamyre.com BACK TO TOP

ABOUT... RON NOGANOSH

Ron Noganosh has worked as a car washer, lamp maker, zoo keeper, truck driver, house framer, miner, band administrator, alligator wrestler, scrap dealer in Africa, art professor, and in various and sundry other occupations to support his art habit! He obtained a diploma in graphic design and one in welding from George Brown College in Toronto and later went on to study fine art at the University of Ottawa. At the University, he explored ecology, politics, economics and social issues that confront native people and indeed all peoples, through the medium of sculpture using found objects.

He has received widespread critical acclaim and the chance to exhibit his work around the world. It has been shown here in Canada at most of the major institutions of art in the country including the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the National Gallery of Art, the Quebec Musée de la Civilization, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Ottawa Art Gallery. Ron’s work has been shown overseas at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, the Museo Nacional de Mexico, the National Gallery of Costa Rica, the Ethnological Museum of St. Petersburg, Russia, the Museum of Haikato, New Zealand, and in museums and galleries in Denmark, Finland, Germany, Tokyo, Taiwan, and at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. His solo show It Takes Time, toured Canada with stops in Brantford, Regina, Victoria, Thunder Bay and Halifax.

His work has been reviewed extensively in the media and in national and international publications and catalogues. The National Film Board of Canada is presently completing an educational film for children called: Make Art Like Ron Noganosh, which was shot at Kahnawake Reserve School and is part of a series that features artists like Maude Lewis and Emily Carr. It is scheduled for release in 2006. Double Jeu: Identité et Culture by Joyceline Lupien and Jean-Philippe Uziel published by the Musée National de Québec in 2004, features Ron's work. It Takes Time: The Art of Ron Noganosh, by Lucy Lippard, one of the foremost U.S. art critics and Tom Hill, Director of the Woodland Cultural Centre was published by the Ottawa Art Gallery in 2001 and won the Canadian Museums Association Award for the best art catalogue of that year. The Trickster Shift, by Dr. Allan Jay Ryan, which was published by the University of British Columbia and the University of Washington, also profiles his work. " If my work encourages people to think, to cry, to laugh and to try to make a change, then I think I am succeeding at what being an artist is all about," says Noganosh. BACK TO TOP

ABOUT... EDWARD POITRAS

Born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1953, Edward Poitras is a member of the Gordon First Nation and resident of Treaty Four Territory. Since the early 1970's, Poitras has been actively engaged in art production, and he has been represented in many important national and international exhibitions. It was during the 1980's that Edward Poitras' work gained the attention of Canadian curators when he became involved in the highly conceptual installation process, a natural tactic that united elements from his Aboriginal heritage with diverse contemporary sources. More recently, Edward Poitras has been involved in art production that demonstrates an uncanny ability to syncretize object making with the electronic environment. To date, Edward Poitras has gained international recognition for works that transcend disciplinary boundaries, engage a deep sense of play and simultaneously elaborate upon disparate worldviews.

Poitras' formal studies and training in art production began in 1974 at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College in Saskatoon where he experimented with indigenous object making. Poitras' studies at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College began under an important mentorship with the late Sarain Stump, a charismatic Native American artist whose influence upon First Nations contemporary art production is widely acknowledged. Edward Poitras later continued his training at Manitou College art program in La Macasa, Quebec from 1975 to 1976. In the late 1970's and early 1980's Poitras taught art at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College, the University of Manitoba and the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, Regina campus.

Over the past twenty years Poitras has exhibited extensively across Canada, as well as in the United States and Europe. His selection as the first Aboriginal artist ever to represent Canada at the prestigious Venice Biennial marks a recognition of his distinctive contribution to the question of "Otherness," the theme of the 1995 Biennial. A selection of Poitras' solo exhibitions include: RESIG/NATION, Galerie Le lieu, Quebec City, Quebec (2000); The Politics of Land, an earthwork at Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (1998); Jaw Rez, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec (1996); Edward Poitras, Canada XLVI Venice Biennial, Italy and Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec (1995); Three Lemons and a Dead Coyote, Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, Ontario (1993); and Et in America Ego, Art Speak, Vancouver, British Columbia (1989). Group exhibitions include: In-X-Isle, Neutral Ground, Regina, Saskatchewan (2000); Savage Truths, The Institute of American Indian Art Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico (1998); Cyclic, Centre for New Media, Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris, France (1997); Prairie-undo Plainsindianer, Westfalisches Museum fur Naturkunde, Munster, Germany (1995); Indigena, Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec (1992); The Challange to Colonization, Fourth Havana Biennial, Wilfredo Lam Center, Havana, Cuba (1991); Humans and the Environment, Museum of Modern Art, Tampere, Finland (1991); and Savoir-Vivre, Savoir-Faire, Savoir-Etre, Art Contemporain 1990, Centre International d'art Contemporain de Montréal. BACK TO TOP

ABOUT... BARRY POTTLE

Barry Pottle (artist’s name pottlebee), was born in Northwest River, Labrador, and grew up in Rigolet, Labrador, (Nunatsiavut). For the past twenty years he has lived and worked in Ottawa. He served in the Military and has worked as a labourer, security guard, bouncer, hunter, fish plant worker, Pepsi Cola bottler, cleaner, museum intern, public servant, Inuit art curator, policy advisor, and government administrator.

He has an electrical trades certificate and a BA in Aboriginal Studies, from Carleton University. His interests include photography, art, reading, writing and volunteering. He is a member of the Labrador Inuit Association and the Labrador Heritage Society and has participated as a Board member and President of Tungasuvvingat Inuit Community Centre and served on the Board of the Inuit Head Start Program.

His curatorial work includes

Visual Insights, recent works by Germaine Arnaktauyok, Indian and Inuit Art Gallery (DIAND) 2002.
Transitions 2: Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art in Canada, a travelling exhibition, Indian and Inuit Art Centres (DIAND) 2001.
Migrations recent works by Derrald Taylor, Indian and Inuit Art Gallery (DIAND) 2001.
Urban Inuit Artists Indian and Inuit Art Gallery (DIAND) 2001
Sikumiut: People of the Sea Ice (Labrador Inuit Artists) Indian and Inuit Art Gallery (DIAND) 2000
Nunavut Artists; In celebration of the New Territory of Nunavut Rideau Hall, 1999. Finding Inner Strength Indian and Inuit Art Gallery (DIAND) 1998.
Nunavimiunut Sanaugait; Nuanvik Inuit Artist , Indian and Inuit Art Gallery, (DIAND)1998. Nagoot-Goot; People of the Macilite, Canadian Museum of Civilization Hull, QC, 1997.
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ABOUT... RYAN RICE

Ryan Rice, a Mohawk from Kahnawake, Quebec is an artist, curator and critic. Rice graduated from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and an Associate of Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico. His work has been exhibited in Canada, USA and Europe; recently in Remembering 1704: Context and Commemoration of the Deerfield Raid, Deerfield, MA and currently in the traveling exhibition Lifeworlds - Artscapes at the Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario. Rice was museum educator at the Iroquois Indian Museum and interned at the Canadian Museum Of Civilization, Hull, Quebec. He also worked as the Curatorial Assistant and acting Chief Curator at the Indian Art Centre, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada where he co-curated Transitions 2: Contemporary Indian and Inuit Art of Canada with Barry Pottle. Rice has also worked as a designer and professor, and is a co-founder /coordinator of Nation To Nation (www.nation2nation.org), a First Nations artist collective whose projects include Native Love and Cyberpowwow.

In May 2004, Rice received a Master of Arts degree in Curatorial Studies from the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York where he presented a thesis and exhibition titled FLOCK. In September 2005, Rice began a curatorial residency at Carleton University Art Gallery in Ottawa where he co-curated, with Diana Nemiroff, Flying Still: Carl Beam 1943 –2005 and will present the work of Glenna Matoush in May 2006 . He is also curating an upcoming two-person exhibition (March 2006) in New York City called Playing Tricks featuring the work of Barry Ace and Maria Hupfield. BACK TO TOP

ABOUT... FRANK SHEBAGEGET

Frank Shebageget is originally from Northwestern Ontario, of Ojibway descent. He received his Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Victoria, in 2000, specializing in Sculpture and graduated with his A.O.C.A in 1996, from the Ontario College of Art, in Interdisciplinary Studies. From September 2000 to January 2002, he worked as Curatorial Assistant at the Indian Art Centre (Gatineau). In 2003 Shebageget was the recipient of the Aboriginal Curators for Residencies in Visual Arts Program from the Canada Council for the Arts, collaborating with Gallery 101, Ottawa. Shebageget maintains a professional exhibiting artistic practice, with a studio at Enriched Bread Artists. Recent exhibitions include: Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (Quebec City,2005), A Space Gallery (Toronto, 2004), Canadian Embassy (Washington DC,2004). Shebageget’s work is in the collections of the Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa; Dorothy Hoover Library, Ontario College of Art, Toronto; and the Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, Toronto. BACK TO TOP

ABOUT... ADRIAN A. STIMSON

Adrian A. Stimson is a member of the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation in southern Alberta. He currently resides in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, working as artist in residence at the Mendel Art Gallery, developing a program called “Living Artfully”. Living Artfully connects eco-art, indigenous knowledge, sustainable communities and people, in order to build diverse vibrant communities.

Adrian is a session instructor at the University of Saskatchewan where he co-instructs a course in contemporary art and is a tutorial leader in Women and Gender Studies. He has a BFA with distinction from the Alberta College of Art & Design and MFA from the University of Saskatchewan, and has been nominated for the University of Saskatchewan’s Governor General thesis award for excellence. His research includes ideas of identity, meta-physics, two spirit people, ecology and spiritual healing through the creative process.

Adrian is an inter-disciplinary artist, whose exhibitions include Buffalo Boy’s Heart On at the Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, Tarred & Feathered Derivative at the Prairie Art Gallery, Putting the Wild back into the West: Belle Sauvage and Buffalo Boy at the Mendel Art Gallery, Buffalo Particles at the Glenbow Museum, Post-modern Bison at the Art Gallery of Calgary and performances at Burning Man in Nevada.Adrian has received the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal and the Alberta Centennial Medal in recognition of his achievements and contributions to human rights and diversity. BACK TO TOP

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