Pauline Nykolyshyn

Pauline was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Pauline grew up in all the indigenous traditions of her Ojibwa heritage and many of Pauline's skills were handed down from the Medicine women and Elders, as they have been for many generations.

Pauline's Mother, Ojibwa Elder Mae Louise Campbell thought it important to pass these gifts to her daughters. Mae Louise Campbell, Pauline and her sister Jamie were owners, operators, and artists of well-known Aboriginal Gift Gallery called Shaganappi Gift Gallery in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Shaganappi Gallery was known for its quality of Indigenous artworks and artifacts and was one of the only traditional Art galleries that specialized in indigenous art works during the 1990s. It was during those years of Pauline's life that she watched her mother's working hands create the most incredible pieces of art. The gallery also offered many teachings on healing and developed drum making workshops. In the 2000's, Elder Mae Louise and her Daughters began some very important work when they purchased 40 acres of land in St. Laurent Manitoba and built Grandmother Moon Lodge for the healing of women. The Center for Healing is still operating very successfully today.

Pauline attended New Westminster College in British Columbia where she graduated as a Human Services Worker. She moved to Edmonton in the early 2000's, married Wally Nykolyshn, raised 2 daughters and continued her work in Human Resources. Taking both traditional and non-traditional materials (often found, gathered and given as gifts from those along the way) Pauline brings forth her indigenous skills and messages and re interrupts them for the current culture.

Pauline Nykolyshyn is represented by Rowles & Company, Alberta's Corporate Gift and Art Gallery, in Edmonton, Alberta. Her artworks can be found in many private and corporate Collections across Canada.

Artist Statement.

In 2014, I embarked upon a journey to rescue my passion for art and too create one of a kind vessels that allow me to surround myself with the rich natural environment created by Mother Earth, and to breathe life back into a long forgotten culture. Not only for myself, but for the people who were long ago silenced.

Being the youngest of 5 children I am incredibly blessed to be a child of Ojibwa Elder Mae Louise Campbell who has taught me how to be rooted in nature's cycles and to respect and own indigenous cultural values.

It's now 2017, my two amazing daughters have gone on with their own lives and my husband and I enjoy our time being outdoors exploring nature. It is there in nature that I look around and notice that the earth is filled with objects waiting to be transformed, given new life and new purpose as an art object.

My work is mostly constructed of natural, found and repurposed materials... twigs from trees, drift wood that's landed from a journey, clay from the earth, feathers from the birds, bones and hides from animals that have sacrificed their lives, and shells from the oceans.

If you have taken a moment to view and reflect on a piece I have created, then I have succeeded in my purpose, and shared my culture. Megwetch (Thank you)

The artwork of Pauline Nykolyshyn is represented by Rowles & Company Ltd., Alberta's Corporate Gift and Art Gallery, in Edmonton & Calgary, Alberta, Canada.