Gail Tremblay facts for kids

Gail Tremblay (born 1945) is an American writer and artist. She has Mi'kmaq and Onondaga heritage. These are both Native American nations. Since 1981, she has been a professor at The Evergreen State College. She lives and works in Washington State. In 2001, Tremblay won a Washington State Governor's Arts and Heritage Award.

Early Life and Education

Gail Tremblay was born on December 15, 1945. Her birthplace was Buffalo, New York. She studied drama at the University of New Hampshire. Later, she earned a master's degree in creative writing. This was from the University of Oregon in 1969.

Writing and Teaching Career

Gail Tremblay is a faculty member at The Evergreen State College. This college is in Olympia, Washington. She has taught there since 1981. She is well-known for her poetry. Tremblay also writes essays about other artists. These essays often appear in exhibition catalogs and books. For example, she wrote an essay for the 2008 book, Joe Feddersen: Vital Signs.

Creative Visual Art

When will the Red Leader Overshadow Images of the 19th Century Noble Savage in Hollywood Films that Some Think are Sympathetic to American Indians (2018) at the Renwick Gallery in 2022.

Tremblay creates art by mixing old and new ideas. She uses traditional skills like weaving. But she uses modern materials too. For example, she makes woven pieces and baskets. She uses unusual things like old film. Her art and poems are inspired by her Native American background. She often uses traditional Native American designs.

Her aunts taught her how to weave baskets. They showed her different weaving styles. Gail Tremblay then used these skills in a new way. She started using film stock and film leader as materials. Film stock is the blank film before it's used. Film leader is the beginning part of a film reel.

Tremblay's art gets ideas from many places. These include Native American history and stories. She also uses ideas from Western movies and pop culture. For example, she made a basket from red and white film leader. It is called And Then There's the Business of Fancydancing. This art piece was inspired by a film by Sherman Alexie. She chose a special weaving style for it. She said it was because of the "difficult and prickly relationships" in the film.

Another famous woven basket is When will the Red Leader Overshadow Images of the 19th Century Noble Savage in Hollywood Films that Some Think are Sympathetic to American Indians (2018). She made this basket using 35mm film. The film came from the movie Windwalker (1981). The Smithsonian American Art Museum bought this artwork in 2021.

Art Exhibitions

Gail Tremblay has shown her art in many places. She has had many solo shows. She has also been part of many group exhibitions. Some of her important solo shows include:

• Gail Tremblay: Fiber, Metal, Wood (1988) at the Museum of the Plains Indian in Browning, Montana.
• The Empty Fish Trap Installation (2004) at the Evergreen State College Gallery in Olympia, Washington.
• Reframing Images, Conceptualizing Indigenous Art (2013) at Froelick Gallery in Portland, Oregon.

Art in Public Collections

Gail Tremblay's artworks are held in many public collections. This means museums and other places own her art. Some of her notable works include:

• Basket (around 1990) at the Portland Art Museum, Oregon.
• Strawberry and Chocolate (2000) at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C..
• In the World of White Line Fever... (2001) at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Salem, Oregon.
• A Note to Lewis and Clark's Ghosts (2004) at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art. It is also at the National Museum of the American Indian.
• It Was Never About Playing Cowboys and Indians (2012) at the Denver Art Museum.
• When will the Red Leader Overshadow Images of the 19th Century Noble Savage in Hollywood Films that Some Think are Sympathetic to American Indians (2018) at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.