Local artist achieves childhood dream

North End

Jackie Traverse knew at a very young age that she would one day be an artist. She was inspired in part by her 14 year old uncle who was always making art. In spite of her family being torn apart in the ‘60s scoop with her siblings being removed from the family, she was always drawing and making art growing up. A member of Lake St. Martin First Nation, she grew up in poverty in the North End and said she had fond memories of visiting her granny on Pritchard Avenue near McGregor.

At 21, she moved into an apartment in a small block at 592 Selkirk Avenue. It is there, she told me, that, while still making art, she started down the road of addiction. At 34, she made the decision to get serious about art and enrolled in the University of Manitoba’s Fine Arts 4 year course. She graduated in 2009.

Jackie’s art was a passion of hers, but she was also passionate about drugs as well and the weekend partying and drug use started seeping more and more into her daily life. And while her art work has been shown in various galleries over the years (including Wah-Sa and Canadian Plains galleries in Winnipeg and Spirit Gallery in B.C., among others) it was the isolation during COVID that she really started taking herself more serious as an artist and realizing that the drugs were quite detrimental in her progress as an artist. In 2022, she was one of four Indigenous artists to have her art featured on a stamp through Canada Post as part of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Fast forward to early 2025, when Jackie bought that building at 592 Selkirk Ave. where she used to live. Although there were a few setbacks like the flood from one of the rental units on the second floor which damaged the main floor, Jackie persevered and opened the Creative Native Art Gallery in June of 2025, with the gallery in front and her art studio in the back.

Her main discipline is acrylic on canvas, but she also dabbles in multimedia and upcycling, like the two wooden wall hangings that she purchased at a thrift store where I met her, which featured a duck on one and two animals in a canoe in the other, which she painted over.

Jackie told me that it makes her happy to perhaps inspire other people like her uncle inspired her when she was young. In fact, she shared a story how recently she ran into an old acquaintance who unfortunately is now caught up in addiction. When Jackie showed her friend the gallery, her old friend’s face lit up as she recalled when Jackie lived upstairs. Perhaps Jackie can be the inspiration and hope for her. By the way, Jackie is coming up to seven years of sobriety.

In late June of 2026, Jackie decided to brighten up the east wall with a mural of a giant thunderbird, which is still a work in progress but should be finished soon. Art classes are offered through the gallery as well. The gallery is open by appointment only and you can make arrangements by contacting Jackie at creativenative@hotmail.com

For more information, visit www.jackietraverse.ca