Heather Shillinglaw Métis Artist
'Seeds from the past...'
The ancestral memory lives in all of us and when we can look close enough at our surroundings into the earth you can truly remember where you came from..
I look at closely at flowers, stems, filaments, seeds, petals and leaves to examine how the plant can build up the surface in beads. I do this for a couple of reasons in that I enjoy the whole labor intensive process in the creation of the design building texture with the beads. I visualize my grandmother beading on the road or making these wonderful pieces to adorn satchel bags, vests, and medicine pouches that traded with the Hudson Bay Company. Working from the trap line or collecting the herbs for healing. I find that beads link me to the past in what they symbolize and historically Métis people have been doing this since the early 1800's.
Each bead is a seed to the past for me as I strand and stitch each bead through the felt and a tradition that was glorified for the Dene because of its symbolicl meaning and hide as the tradition of the Cree. The felt in the past was used on featured garments and useful things used in ceremonies. I remember this is a tradition in craft. This tradition is also rich and important to tell where I came from and what the plant can do for herbal medicines, how we can consume them for health, to use them to heal. Each flower that I create I make a link to my ancestral history of the plant as I continue to research how our native plants can preserve our memories of natural beauty. The focal point of the flower is the beads and I use the paint to blend in the background onto canvas. I create a seamless blend between beads, felt, watercolor techniques or acrylics on board or rag paper. I remember the Métis was interwoven between water, earth, air and sky. - Heather Shillinglaw
Heather Shillinglaw is a Metis Artist proud of her heritage. Heather has had over 25 solo exhibitions and numerous group shows and has become renowned worldwide for her unique blending of traditional beadwork with mixed media and nature. Art has been an inspiration for her since she was a child. She received a BFA from Alberta College of Art and Design in 1997.
Herather engages in various methods of collaging fusing a wide variety of everyday objects into her mixed media artworks. Weaving symbolic meaning and imagery from our landscape, Heather sets her focus on the healing powers of our prairies and boreal forests. Within all her artwork there are references to the environmental awareness. She has learned from elders, medicine women and cultural sharing while studying indigenous medicinal plants and sustainability for communities.This has influenced her passion and practice in making artwork, and has prompted her invitations for speaking engagements and exchange programs in the USA, South America and Europe. Her artwork can be found in many collections of both private and corporate collections, larger scale public works include the Fort McMurray TOTAL Aboriginal Interpretive Trail where you can find her newest permanent public art piece titled: 'Sky Spirit Courage of Mother Bear'.
The ‘Buffalo Girl Exhibition at the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie is a retrospective of 5 years of her artwork created as her largest exhibitions of her work to date.This collection encompasses project based themes that relate to traditional hunting grounds, speak to the past, present and future of our ancestral landscapes and how they are affected by industrial spoilage. Heather's approach to the making of her artwork, added to her workshops and lectures demonstrate the artist role in reminding us about the importance of protecting our environment for future generations.
The artwork of Heather Shilinglaw is represented by Rowles & Company, Alberta's Corporate Gift and Art Gallery in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
