Christi Belcourt

Christi Marlene Belcourt (born September 24, 1966) is a Métis visual artist and author living and working in Canada. She is best known for her acrylic paintings which depict floral patterns inspired by Métis and First Nations historical beadwork art. Belcourt's work often focuses on questions around identity, culture, place and divisions within communities.

Christi Belcourt
Christi Belcourt as an Artist in Residence at the McMichael Art Gallery, Kleinburg, ON, 2004
Born1966
Scarborough, Ontario
NationalityMétis, Canadian
Occupationpainter
Parent(s)Tony Belcourt, Judith Pierce-Martin
RelativesShane Belcourt, Suzanne Belcourt
Websitechristibelcourt.com

Biography

Born in Scarborough, Ontario, Christi Belcourt is the daughter of national Métis rights activist Tony Belcourt and Judith Pierce-Martin (née Streatch). Her family's roots are connected to Manitou Saskhigan (also known as Lac Ste. Anne), Alberta. Her brother Shane Belcourt is a writer, director, musician and cinematographer known for his feature film Tkaronto, which depicts the life of urban Métis and First Nations people. Her sister Suzanne Belcourt is a graphic designer and artist living and working in southern Ontario. In 1970, her father was elected as the founding President of the Native Council of Canada (now known as the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples) and the family relocated permanently to Ottawa, Ontario from Edmonton, Alberta.[1]

As a Métis visual artist with a deep respect for the traditions and knowledge of her people, the majority of her work explores and celebrates the beauty of the natural world. She is the author of three books and her artwork has been utilized as cover artwork for many publications. Belcourt's work has been featured in two documentary films: So Much Depends Upon Who Holds The Shovel (2008, Wayne Peltier) and A Life in Balance (2012, Kathy Browning).[2]

Her artistic work has been commissioned by the Gabriel Dumont Institute (Saskatoon, 2004), the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Centre for Traditional Knowledge & Museum of Nature (Ottawa, 2002), and is found in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery and the Canadian Museum of Civilization, First People's Hall. Belcourt is a past recipient of awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Métis Nation of Ontario.[1]

Community activism

Belcourt is the project creator and lead coordinator of the Walking With Our Sisters, a crowd-sourced commemorative art installation for the missing and murdered Indigenous women of Canada and the United States. Started in 2012 this project has toured throughout communities in North American and continues to be driven by community volunteers.[3][4]

In 2014, Belcourt founded the community based The Onaman Collective with Isaac Murdoch and Erin Konsmo. This project aims to preserve traditional knowledge, language, and teachings.[5][4] In recent years Belcourt has become a vocal advocate for the need for a Métis land base and the power of Indigenous language restoration.[6] The Onaman Collective has also worked to connect traditional knowledge keepers and elders with Indigenous youth.[7] The Collective has also engaged in advocacy around water protection and raising awareness of the need to protect the Great Lakes and other bodies of water.[8] They created a series of banners free to download on their website to use during water and land protection events.[9] These banners are act of solidarity between water, land and animals protectors from different communities across Turtle Island.[10]

In the same year, Belcourt was also involved in promoting the "blue dot" movement as a way of visually protesting government decisions around the First Nations Control of First Nations Education Act.[11] The blue dots added to photographs in this movement were used as a way of identifying the marginalized people left out of the conversations by the Canadian Government.

As a form of activism in 2016, Belcourt requested the Métis Nation of Ontario remove her name from the organization's registry. Belcourt's request was in part based on her disagreement with the organization's decision to sign deals with mining companies such as Energy East and Nuclear Waste Management Organization.[12]

Beginning in 2017, Belcourt was involved in the establishment 150 Acts of Resistance project. This initiative was designed to counter the Canadian government narrative around the "Canada 150" sesquicentennial celebration and to promote a discussion of the realities of colonialism and Indigenous resistance in Canada.[13]

Artwork

Painting

Belcourt has created large, mural-sized acrylic paintings that resemble the beadwork of her ancestors and community, by using her brush to make tiny dots that resemble beadwork. Her paintings are filled with floral designs that include insects, birds and other animals, spread out across the canvas. These are not just floral patterns or illustrations, but Belcourt has created stories for each work.[14]

Exhibitions

Individual
  • Mapping Routes: Perspectives of Land and Water in Ontario, Thunder Bay Art Gallery (2010)
  • Identity, Land & Spirit, Red Shift Gallery (2009)
  • Off The Map, ArtSpace Gallery (2008)
  • Off The Map & Great Metis of My Time, Urban Shaman Gallery (2008)
  • Great Metis of My Time, Batoche National Historic Site (2008)
  • New Works By Christi Belcourt, Metis Nation of Ontario Annual General Assembly (2005)
  • Lessons from the Earth, Thunder Bay Art Gallery (2003/2004)
  • Urban Myths: Aboriginal Artists in the City, Karsh-Masson Gallery (2000)[2]

Group
  • Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, Minneapolis Institute of Art, (2019)[15]
  • With Isaac Murdoch, Uprising, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Regina, and Winnipeg, (2018).[16]
  • Resilience, National Billboard Project, (2018) [17]
  • The Aunties are Listening, Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, (2018)[18]
  • Material Girls, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan (2015)
  • Before and After the Horizon: Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes, National Museum of The American Institute (2014)
  • Sakahan, National Gallery of Canada (2013)
  • Faraway Nearby, Art Gallery of Algoma (2012)
  • Ancestral Teachings: Contemporary Perspectives Thunderbird Art Centre (2011)
  • Contrary Projects in Venice: an Aboriginal Art Intervention at the Venice Biennale (2011)
  • Resilience / Resistance: Metis Art, 1880-2011, Batoche National Historic Site (2011)
  • Good Medicine, Craft Council of Saskatchewan and the Gabriel Dumont Institute (2011)
  • Mantuc, Little Spirits: The Language of Glass Beads, North America Native Museum in Zurich, Switzerland (2010)
  • Creation, Land, Treaty: From Sacred to Profane, Ojibway Cultural Foundation (2009)
  • Willisville Mountain Project (touring exhibit, 2009)
  • Vanishing Seams, Indian and Inuit Art Centre (2008)
  • Reflets, Reflections sur L'Eau, Maison de la Nature et l'EnvironnementAix en Provence, France (2008)
  • A Tribute to Norval Morrisseau and the Woodland Artists, Red Lake Heritage Centre (2008)
  • West Side Stories: The Metis of Northwestern Saskatchewan, Diefenbaker Canada Centre at University of Saskatchewan (2007)
  • Native American Fine Arts Show, Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center (2005)
  • Manitoulin Artists, 4elements Gallery (2004)
  • LaCloche Art Show, Whitefish Falls (2004)
  • Métis in the 21st Century, Forest Farm Hall (2003)
  • Making the Spirit Visible, New York State University (2001)

Permanent installations

Other artistic works
  • Belcourt designed the competition medals for 2015 Pan American Games.[20]
  • In 2015 Belcourt's drawing "Water Song" was used as print inspiration for a line of clothing by Valentino.[21]
  • In 2017 Belcourt collaborated with ela Handbags to create a line of limited edition handbags with prints resembling her paintings.[22]

Publications
  • Co-author. Jeremy and the Magic Ball (2008, Ontario Indian Friendship Centres)[23]
  • Medicines to Help Us Traditional Metis Plant Use (2008), ISBN 978-0-920915-79-0
  • Beadwork: First Peoples' Beading History and Techniques (2011) ISBN 978-1-897541-25-8
  • Contributor. Dreaming in Indian: Contemporary Native American Voices (2014), ISBN 9781554516865
  • Contributor. iLit Strength and Struggle: Perspectives from First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples in Canada (2011), ISBN 978-0071067034

Awards

Belcourt is the recipient of numerous awards and grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Chalmers Family Fund and the Métis Nation of Ontario, including:[24]

  • Ontario Premier's Awards for Excellence in the Arts, Individual Artist Award (2016)[25]
  • Governor General's Innovation Award (2016)[26]
  • Art Gallery of Ontario People's Choice Award for "The Wisdom of the Universe" acrylic painting (2015)[27]
  • Aboriginal Arts Award 2014 Laureate, Ontario Arts Council (2014)
  • Influential Women of Northern Ontario, Aboriginal Leadership Award (2014)
  • Chalmers Family Fund, Ontario Arts Council (2010)
  • Aboriginal Arts Projects Grant and Aboriginal Traditional Arts Program, Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council (2009)
  • Northern Arts Grant Recipient, Ontario Arts Council,(2007)
  • Aboriginal People's Collaborative Exchange Program, Canada Council For The Arts, 2007)
  • Judges Choice Award, Works on Paper Exhibit, Espanola, Ontario (2006)
  • Mid-Career Artist Grant Recipient, Ontario Arts Council (2004)
  • Aboriginal Arts Projects Grant Recipient, Ontario Arts Council (2004)
  • First place, Mixed Media, LaCloche Art Show, Whitefish Falls, Ontario (2004)
  • Emerging Artist Grant, Ontario Arts Council and Canadian Council for the Arts (2000, 1999)
  • Metis Cultural Grant Recipient, Metis Nation of Ontario (1998)

See also

References
  1. "Christi Belcourt turned an act of discrimination into a work of art". CBC Radio. 19 June 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  2. "CV". Christi Belcourt. 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  3. Porter, Jody (October 10, 2014). "Walking With Our Sisters installation 'more than beautiful artwork'". CBC News, Thunder Bay. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  4. Merz-Edwards, Jean (Winter 2017). "Christi Belcourt: Michif Painter". First American Art. 17: 50–55.
  5. McMahon, Ryan (September 7, 2015). "Red Man Laughing (S.5) - The Onaman Collective Interview". Red Man Laughting. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  6. "Christi Belcourt: Reclaiming ourselves one name at a time". CBC News. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  7. "Teaching tradition: Bringing youth and elders together to learn from each other". CBC Radio. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  8. Brown, Lynne. "The Great Lakes Gathering. For the Water. Ojibway Park. | SaultOnline.com". saultonline.com. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  9. Collective, Onaman. "Onaman Collective". Onaman Collective.
  10. Awasis, Sakihitowin. "Keep in the ground". Canadian Art.
  11. Sterritt, Angela (February 12, 2014). "Blue dots becoming symbol for First Nations Education Act resistance". CBC News. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  12. "Prominent Métis artist wants name removed from Métis Nation registry". Up North. CBC News. November 4, 2016. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  13. Sandals, Leah (January 17, 2017). "Artists and Allies Resist #Canada150 Push on Social Media". Canadian Art. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  14. Penney, David (2013). Before and After the Horizon - Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes. Smithsonian Institution: Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian. pp. 24–25, 92–93. ISBN 978-1-58834-452-6.
  15. Yohe, Jill Ahlberg; Greeves, Teri. (2019). Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, Minneapolis: Minneapolis Institute of Art. ISBN 9780295745794.
  16. "Art to 'save the world': Uprising comes to Thunder Bay art gallery". CBC. July 2, 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-06.
  17. "National art project showcasing Indigenous resilience". APTN. June 7, 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-06.
  18. Santos, Joshua (April 19, 2018). "AGGP to host Indigenous art exhibition". Daily Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  19. "Stained Glass Window in Parliament Commemorating the Legacy of Indian Residential Schools". Indigenous And Northern Affairs Canada. December 12, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  20. "The Medals Story: Pan Am and Parapan Am competition medals". 2015. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  21. Everett-Green, Robert (August 4, 2015). "Métis artist Christi Belcourt inspires Valentino fashion line". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved May 5, 2016.
  22. "Christi Belcourt brings traditional Métis beadwork to this artistic fashion collab | CBC Life". CBC. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  23. "Métis Artist Christi Belcourt". First Nations Drum Newspaper. 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
  24. Hunnie, C (2007–2008). "Christi Belcourt Expression of Nature". Aboriginal Boreal Conservation Leaders. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
  25. Alex, Cathy (October 9, 2016). "Northern Ontario Indigenous artists recognized with Premier's awards for excellence". CBC News. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  26. "Christi Belcourt receives Governor General Award for Innovation". CBC News. May 19, 2016. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  27. Hosein, Lise (July 20, 2015). "Medals artist Christi Belcourt owns the Pan Am podium | CBC Arts". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2017-04-03.
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