Putting the fragments together

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This article was published 01/12/2015 (3798 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The process of putting together a collage is symbolic for artist Lita Fontaine.

The Osborne Village resident has spent her life connecting the dots between art, environment and her identity as an indigenous woman.

Fontaine’s work will be on display in the Winnipeg Art Gallery (300 Memorial Blvd.) in their recently opened exhibit, We Are On Treaty Land. The exhibit will run from Nov. 10, 2015 to May 22, 2016. Paintings, prints, sculptures and photographs explore the relationship between the First Nations population and the Crown, according to the exhibit’s website.

“There’s a stereotypical way that people look at First Nations artwork and think it’s like the Woodlands School, and that’s just one style,” Fontaine said.

“So going through art school I developed (my own)… there’s indigenous experience in it, because art is an extension of oneself so it’s in there.”

Fontaine’s mother served as great inspiration for her art.

“She was a storyteller, my mom,” Fontaine, 57, said.

“She would tell us Nanabush stories, she would scare the living heck out of us… that’s what (the piece featured in the WAG) is based on. It’s my interpretation of what it looked like.”

Fontaine’s collages are created with large pieces of plywood in different shapes with a combination of acrylic paint and collage features. She uses the shape of a traditional First Nations woman’s dress as the starting point for several pieces, onto which she paints night skies and other landscape images.

“There’s that connection to the land because we are the land,” Fontaine said.

“Mother Earth is part of us.”

Fontaine said that the collage aspect of her art mirrors the experience of living in two worlds simultaneously. As a young girl growing up in Winnipeg in the ’60s, she was surrounded by non-indigenous families and was subjected to racism. At the same time, she was trying to establish herself as an indigenous woman and learn from her culture.

“They call Winnipeg the most racist city in Canada but in the ‘60s, I think it was worse… it made me stronger in the long run, I learned from it,” she said.

“I’m trying to figure out my identity over the years. Even from my non-indigenous friends, there are things I picked up from them.”

Fontaine is the artist-in-residence for the Seven Oaks School Division. She moves between schools to engage with the students through art projects and educate them about how it connects to indigenous culture. While she is not a teacher, she enjoys sharing her gift with students.

“There’s so much acceptance with kids,” she said.

“I like to create a space for them that’s a safe environment for them to go and be creative in. When they complete a picture and they’re like, ‘Whoa! I did that!’ I love that, that’s the best part.”

The artist added that attitudes about indigenous education have greatly improved and that she is seeing more of it in the school system.

“I’m starting to see more confidence in the teachers for teaching it,” she said. “I’m glad it’s being taught… that’s going to build relationships.”

For more info on the exhibit visit: http://wag.ca/art/exhibitions/current-exhibitions.

 

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