Faye HeavyShield | The Art of Faye HeavyShield

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Faye Heavyshield, "Faye Heavyshield: Aapaskaiyaawa (They are Dancing)," 2002,

acrylic paint, beads, plastic filament on canvas. Collection of the MacKenzie Art Gallery,

The Art of Faye HeavyShield will present work that spans thirty years of her practice. The exhibition situates HeavyShield as a major contributor to contemporary Indigenous art through her creation of a new aesthetic vocabulary. While bearing a resemblance to conceptual installation, her work is rooted in the deep art history of the Canadian prairies and in personal/communal experience. Arising from an intensive research project led by Felicia Gay, and guided by the personal ties between the artist and curator, the project will be multi-faceted in its approach. HeavyShield is a senior visual artist who has had a profound impact on Indigenous artists from the Northern Plains and across Turtle Island through an approach based on relationality, an aesthetics of humility, and her poetic visual articulations of Blackfoot language—all rooted within her cultural context as a Blackfoot (Blood) woman from the Kainai territory.

The Art of Faye HeavyShield, curated by Curatorial Fellow, Felicia Gay, will feature a variety of art mediums employing HeavyShield’s narrative driven aesthetic and minimalist style.

“I feel incredibly honoured to curate Faye HeavyShield’s first retrospective”. States Felicia Gay Curatorial Fellow at the MacKenzie. “Her work demands a relational approach with a shared understanding between us as Indigenous women. For the first time, folks will have the opportunity to experience the power and expanse of her art here in Saskatchewan.”

For nearly forty years, artist Faye HeavyShield has inspired audiences with work that is connected culturally to her experience as a Blackfoot woman from the Kainai (Blood) Nation. Over this time, she has imparted an important legacy to Indigenous artists on the Northern Plains through an approach emphasizing relationality to land and community, an aesthetics of humility, and a poetic and visual marking of the Blackfoot language. The Art of Faye HeavyShield is a collaborative reflection between HeavyShield and curator Felicia Gay on her practice as an artist, as well as her indelible contributions to North American and Indigenous art history. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Born in 1953 at Stand Off, in the Blood Reserve, Alberta, Faye HeavyShield is a member of the Blackfoot Confederacy from the Kainai (Blood) Nation in the foothills of Southern Alberta. Studying at the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Alberta, HeavyShield has been highlighted, in both solo and group exhibitions, at galleries across Canada including the Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver, BC), Gallery Connexion (Fredericton, NB), The Power Plant (Toronto, ON), and the Southern Alberta Art Gallery. Faye’s work is found in permanent collections of the National Art Gallery of Canada, McMichael Museum, Alberta Foundation of Art, Glenbow Museum (Calgary, AB), Heard Museum (Phoenix, AZ), MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina, SK) and the Kelowna Art Gallery (Kelowna, BC). HeavyShield was an Eiteljorg Fellowship artist in 2009 and a 2021 recipient of the Lt. Governor General of Alberta Award-Visual Arts.