ABOUT... JEFF THOMAS

Jeff Thomas is an urban-Iroquios, born in the city of Buffalo, whose parents and grandparents lived at the Six Nations reserve, near Brantford, Ontario and left the reserve to find work in the city. Now living in Ottawa, he is a curator, photographer and cultural analyst whose work is in major collections in Canada, the United States and Europe: including the National Gallery’s Museum of Contemporary Photography, the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian, and the Musée de l’Elysée in Lausanne. Jeff’s most recent solo shows were Jeff Thomas: A Study of Indian-ness, Scouting for Indians in New York City and Geronimo was Here in Buffalo. He has also been in many group shows, including Images of the American Indian at the Birchfield-Penney Art Center and Crossing Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life at the Museum of Civilization. In 1998, he was awarded the Canada Council’s prestigious Duke and Duchess of York Award in Photography

His specialty is the exploration of historical cultural resources to bring voices, stories and perspectives into the present. In his curatorial projects, such as Emergence From the Shadow: First Peoples Photographic Perspective at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and Aboriginal Portraits at the National Archives of Canada, Jeff has mined the archival vaults of non-Native visual and written records to recover lost elements of Aboriginal history. Jeff's personal photographic practice is concerned with showing the perspective of an urban Iroquoian person.

You won't find a definition for 'urban Iroquois' in any dictionary or anthropological publication -- it is this absence that informs his work as a photo-based artist, researcher, independent curator, cultural analyst and public speaker. His study of Indian-ness seeks to create an image bank of his urban-Iroquois experience, as well as to re-contextualize historical images of First Nations people for a contemporary audience. Ultimately, he hopes to dismantle long entrenched stereotypes and inappropriate caricatures of First Nations people. BACK TO TOP

ABOUT... UKJESE VAN KAMPEN

Ukjese Van Kampen is Tutchone/Scottish, born in Whitehorse, Yukon. He is a member of Kwanlin Dun First Nation and belongs to the Wolf Clan. He was raised in the Yukon and Northern BC and he joined the Canadian Army in 1977.

On acquiring his Bachelor of Fine Arts, from the Open University, he spent a year as an Intern Art Curator at the Yukon Arts Centre Gallery. While there he curated the "Art of the Kaska Nation" exhibit, which was highly successful. After completing his internship, he remained on staff at the Yukon Arts Center Gallery as a Casual Preparator and studied for the CRM's Collections Management diploma during that time.

He is now working on a M.A. in Integrated Studies with Athabasca University with a focus on Cultural Studies. He recently started a training position with the Yukon Government as a Community Arts Coordinator with the Art Section of Tourism and Culture. He hopes to work in a public art gallery, museum or cultural centre...or to teach art at a university or college. He is actively pursuing his artistic practice and has exhibited in 80 art exhibitions worldwide. His website is www.tutchoneart.com. BACK TO TOP

ABOUT... JAIME WARN

Jaime Warn is a band member of The Chippewa of the Thames First Nations from Southern Ontario. She is currently the Aboriginal Curatorial Work Study with the Walter Phillips Gallery at The Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta. She lives permanently in Lethbridge, Alberta, where she is finishing her Masters in Native American Studies at the University of Lethbridge. While at the university, she also worked as a sessional instructor for two semesters and completed two undergraduate degrees in Fine Arts and Native American Studies. Her thesis is entitled "The Trickster Paradigm in First Nations Visual Art: A Contemporary Application". She has been painting independently for about 8 years and has exhibited across Canada in group and solo exhibitions. She owes much of her success to her Thesis Supervisor, Dr. Alfred Youngman, and to Thesis Committee Members Leroy Little Bear, Dagmar Dahle and Amethyst First Rider. She is particularly thankful to Craig Womack whose poetic words guide her thoughts and spirit.

Contact Jaime at Box 1020, Stn. 14, Aboriginal Curatorial Work Study, Walter Phillips Gallery, 107 Tunnel Mountain Drive, Banff, Alberta, T1L 1H5. T: 403.762.6336 F:403.762.6659
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ABOUT... DAINA WARREN

Daina Warren is of the Montana Slavey Cree nation, in Hobbema, Alberta. She graduated from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design finishing her BFA with two majors - sculpture and painting. After graduating from ECIAD, an internship with the grunt gallery led to her participation in the Canada Council’s “Assistance to Aboriginal Curators for Residencies in the Visual Arts.” Since completing this residency she has acquired the position of curator and administrator at the grunt gallery and has curated many projects and exhibitions both in part with the gallery and with the outlying Vancouver arts community.

In November 2002, Daina assisted Lori Blondeau, Dana Claxton, and Glenn Alteen, in producing the contemporary performance art conference, INDIANacts, November 2002. Daina is currently touring her curatorial project, Futuristic Regalia, she is also one of the contributing artists, showing with Sonny Assu and Peter Morin. This exhibition took place at grunt gallery (Vancouver, BC) in February 2004, at Alternator Gallery (Kelowna, BC) January - February, 2005 and at the Campbell River Public Art gallery, April - May, 2005.
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