Gail Tremblay facts for kids

Gail Tremblay (December 15, 1945 – May 3, 2023) was an American writer and artist. She was known for her unique art, especially baskets woven from old film. These films often showed Native American people, like in Western movies or documentaries. In 2001, she received a special award from the Governor of Washington State for her contributions to arts and heritage.

About Gail Tremblay

Early Life and Education

Gail Tremblay was born in Buffalo, New York, on December 15, 1945. She stated that her family had roots in the Mi'kmaq and Onondaga peoples. Her art was often inspired by the cultures of Indigenous peoples from the Northeastern Woodlands. Later, a government board that works with Native American arts and crafts reviewed her heritage claims. They found that she was not of Indigenous heritage.

Gail earned her first degree in theater from the University of New Hampshire in 1967. She then received a master's degree in English (Creative Writing) from the University of Oregon in 1969.

Teaching and Writing Career

Tremblay became a professor at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. She taught different subjects there, including English, art history, and Native American studies. She started teaching at Evergreen in 1980. Her last class was in 2018, in the college's new fiber studio.

The Poetry Foundation recognized her for her writing. Gail Tremblay also wrote essays for art shows. One example is "Speaking in a Language of Vital Signs." This essay was for a 2008 art show featuring artist Joe Feddersen.

Unique Visual Art

An Iroquois Dreams That the Tribes of the Middle East Will Take the Message of Deganawida to Heart and Make Peace (2009), Smithsonian American Art Museum

Gail Tremblay described her art as a mix of old Native American techniques and modern art. Her poems and artworks were inspired by the cultures of Indigenous peoples from the Northeastern Woodlands.

Tremblay shared that she learned basket weaving from her aunts. She then updated these traditional skills for today's world. She used modern materials like old film strips and film leader.

Weaving with Film

Tremblay's art often explored Native American history and traditional stories. She also drew ideas from books, Western movies, and other popular culture. For example, she made a basket using red and white film leader. It was called And Then There's the Business of Fancydancing. This piece was inspired by a film by Sherman Alexie.

Tremblay explained her choice of weaving style for this basket. She said, "I chose to use Porcupine Stitch because there are so many difficult and prickly relationships between characters in this film.” Another film-inspired 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 wove this basket using 35mm movie film from the movie Windwalker (1981). The Smithsonian American Art Museum added this artwork to its collection in 2021.

Art reviewer Marcia Morse wrote about Tremblay's work. She mentioned And Then There is The Hollywood Indian Princess (2002). For this piece, Tremblay used a special basket weaving style from the Northeastern Woodlands. Instead of traditional materials like brown ash, she used recycled 16 mm film. This clever choice helped her challenge common ideas about Native American women.

Exhibitions and Collections

Gail Tremblay's art was shown in many places. She had solo shows, meaning only her art was displayed. She also participated in group shows with other artists.

Where Her Art Is Shown

Some of her solo exhibitions included:

• 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.
• Gail Tremblay: Twenty Years of Making (2002) at the Daybreak Star Cultural Center in Seattle.
• Art of Gail Tremblay (2017) at the Eastern Washington University Downtown Gallery in Cheney, Washington.

Artworks in Public Places

Many of Gail Tremblay's artworks are part of public collections. This means you can find them in museums and other public institutions. Some examples include:

• Basket (around 1990) at the Portland Art Museum in Oregon.
• Strawberry and Chocolate (2000) at the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, D.C..
• In the World of White Line Fever... (2001) at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art in Salem, Oregon.
• And Then There is the Hollywood Indian Princess (2002) also at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art.
• A Note to Lewis and Clark's Ghosts (2004) at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art and the National Museum of the American Indian.
• The Ghost of Salmon (2004) at the Rosa Parks Station in Portland, Oregon.
• An Iroquois Dreams That the Tribes of the Middle East Will Take the Message of Deganawida to Heart and Make Peace (2009) at the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington.
• It Was Never About Playing Cowboys and Indians (2012) at the Denver Art Museum.
• When Ice Stretched on for Miles (2017) at the Brooklyn Museum in New York.
• 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.
• When There Is No Category for a Film in a Native American Language on Oscar Night, Clearly It Is in a League of Its Own (2021) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Published Works

Gail Tremblay was also a published writer. She wrote several books of poetry:

• Night Gives Women the Word (1979)
• Close to Home (1981)
• Indian Singing in 20th Century America (1990)
• Farther From and Too Close to Home (2013)