Faye HeavyShield facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Faye HeavyShield
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HeavyShield giving an artist talk at the Eiteljorg Museum's 2009 Fellowship for Native American Fine Art
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| Born | 1953 (age 71–72) Blood 148, Alberta, Canada
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| Nationality | Kainai Nation, Canadian |
| Education | Alberta College of Art and Design, University of Calgary |
| Known for | Installation, sculpture |
| Movement | Canadian feminist art, contemporary Indigenous art |
Faye HeavyShield (born 1953) is a talented Kainai First Nations artist from Canada. She creates amazing sculptures and large art installations. Her art often uses many similar objects and words to make big, special artworks that fit their location.
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About Faye HeavyShield
Faye HeavyShield grew up on the North End of the Blood Reserve 148 in Alberta, Canada. She was one of 12 children. Her father managed a ranch there. As a child, she went to a Catholic school called St. Mary's Residential.
Growing up, Faye spoke both Blackfoot and English. She spent a lot of time with her grandmother. Her grandmother shared many stories about the Kainai, or Blood people. The Kainai are part of the Blackfoot Confederacy.
In 1980, Faye started studying art at the Alberta College of Art and Design. She later earned her degree in Fine Arts from the University of Calgary in 1986.
In 2007, Faye HeavyShield helped create a show called "Legends of Kainai." This show shared stories from the Blackfoot people of Southern Alberta. It was produced by the CBC.
Faye HeavyShield's Art Career
Faye HeavyShield's art often shows her life and the world around her. She is inspired by the land in southern Alberta, with its prairies and rivers. Her art also reflects her childhood in the Kainai community. She uses ideas from the past, present, and her imagination. Her works often connect to the human body, the land, and language.
When she started art college, Faye loved working with her hands. She was drawn to making sculptures and large art installations. Creating these pieces made her feel deeply connected to the materials and ideas.
Sculptural Installations
Many of Faye HeavyShield's artworks are made for a specific place. These are called site-specific pieces. One example is body of land, first made in 2002. For this work, she placed hundreds of small paper cone shapes on a wall. These shapes look like tiny tipis. They are in shades of red, pink, purple, and brown. These colors come from magnified digital images of human skin. body of land shows how environments, communities, language, and history can last forever.
Her works often feature many similar items. These can be the paper forms in body of land, or small boats, or tiny squares of cloth. These objects are often delicate and made by hand. Making these pieces involves repeating tasks, like dyeing fabric. Faye finds this repetitive process calming and a way to explore new ideas.
Indigenous Culture in Art
Faye HeavyShield's life on the Blood reservation and her Blackfoot background are a huge part of her art. In 2004, she created kuto'iis (which means "blood"). This piece has hundreds of small knotted cloth balls attached to a wall. They are painted with red ochre. Like body of land, the knots are placed in a scattered way. Each knot represents a blood clot. The repeated pattern and the ritual of making the knots are like remembering stories, songs, and home.
From 2007 to 2008, Faye studied Blood beadwork in museums. She looked at collections at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Glenbow Museum. She noticed how the objects were stored, often in rows with small tags. She also thought about the women who made these beautiful objects. These women were often her ancestors. One artwork from this study is hours (2007). It is a book with no words, made of twelve pages woven with white seed beads.
Christian Symbolism
Faye HeavyShield's Catholic education also appears in her art. The importance of Christianity on the Blood Reserve influences her work. Drawings and sculptures inspired by the wimples worn by the Grey Nuns appeared in the mid-1990s. One piece is heart hoof horn. Another is now I lay me down, an installation with semi-abstract fonts on a wall. This piece reflects Catholic rituals and prayers. now I lay me down was part of her 1994 exhibit "Into the Garden of Angels" in Toronto.
Feminism in Art
In the 1990s, Faye HeavyShield was a leader in the Canadian feminist art movement. Many of her works from this time explored ideas about women and womanhood. In 1993, she created sisters. This artwork was a circle of six pairs of high heels with their toes pointing outward. The installation represented Faye and her five sisters. It symbolized the strength of women.
She used shoes again in 1994 for she: a room full of women. This piece brought together twelve pairs of women's and girls' shoes. They were spray painted matte black. This was the first time Faye used her own words in her art. She placed framed black and white panels above each pair of shoes. These words represented "everywoman."
Landscape Art
Faye HeavyShield grew up near two rivers in southern Alberta: the Oldman and the Belly. She used to play in the Oldman River as a child. In 2004, she started taking photographs of the rivers. She then made black and white photocopies of these photos. She titled this work old man is a river.
Faye's art often explores how rivers and places influence people and history. She uses digital images, writing, and drawing to show this connection.
One of her works, shaped like a diamond, combines different elements. One half has encaustic images of prairie grass. The other half is a large digital print collage with her thoughts written on it. This artwork was shown in 2005 at the Alberta Biennial.
In 2004, she created camouflage. This was an installation and performance piece. Faye placed stones and twigs from the Oldman River on the shore of the St. Croix River. These stones had photocopied images of the river and text from a Blackfoot dictionary on them. She left them there, and three weeks later, most had been scattered or carried away by the tide. This piece was made on the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain's arrival at the site. It explored ideas of moving things to new places and exchanging cultures.
Exhibitions
- Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists (2019), Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.
- The Art of Faye Heavyshield (2022), a 40-year retrospective (a show looking back at her past work), MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina.
Notable Collections
Faye HeavyShield's art can be found in important collections, including:
Notable Awards
- Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art, 2009, from the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.
See also
In Spanish: Faye HeavyShield para niños
