Nationality Canadian | Education York University | |
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Born 1977 Newmarket, Ontario Known for Acrylic paint, mixed media Books 7: Professional Native Indian Artists Inc | ||
Michelle lavallee
Michelle LaVallee is a Canadian curator, artist, and educator of Ojibway ancestry and a member of the Nawash Band in Cape Croker, Ontario. She has BFA (2000) and BEd (2004) degrees from York University in Toronto, Ontario. Her most recent degree is an MA in Art History and Curatorial Studies from the University of Regina in Regina, Saskatchewan, with a special focus on the complex, contextual, and interactive nature of Aboriginal curatorial practices in the development of curatorial and art historical research models. She has been working as a curator at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan since 2007. Lavallee won the award for Excellence in Arts Related Service at the Mayors' Arts and Business Awards in Regina, Saskatchewan in 2013. Activating and developing greater understanding of misrepresented or marginalized histories is of personal and political import for LaVallee whose critical thought is influenced from her experience working with Indigenous peoples in Canada, El Salvador, Australia and Aotearoa (New Zealand)
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Michelle lavallee
Career
LaVallee began her curatorial practice at Aspace gallery in Toronto (2005). She moved to the Mackenzie Art gallery (2007-2012), and is now Associate Curator at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan. LaVallee’s curatorial work has explored the colonial relations that have shaped historical and contemporary culture. She has curated several shows exploring narratives of colonial relations and resistance, including a retrospective exhibition of the Professional Native Indian Artists Inc., known as the “The Indian Group of Seven,” which included First Nations artists Jackson Beardy, Eddy Cobiness, Alex Janvier, Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig, Carl Ray, and Joseph Sanchez. 7: Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. features work from the “Indian Group of Seven,” the first incorporated First Nations artist organization in the country. These artists met in the 1970s and demanded to be recognized as professional contemporary artists in Canada. The exhibit opened at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan on September 21, 2013, and was accompanied by a catalogue titled 7: Professional Native Indian Artists Inc, which won 3 2015 Saskatchewan Book Awards(University of Regina Faculty of Education and Campion College Award for Publishing in Education, First Nations University of Canada Aboriginal Peoples' Publishing Award, Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport Publishing Award). The exhibit also travelled to the Winnipeg Art Gallery in Winnipeg, Manitoba (May 9 to August 31, 2014), Kelowna Art Gallery in Kelowna, British Columbia (October 11, 2014 to January 4, 2015), and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario (May 10 to August 16, 2015). She was a chosen participant for the Canadian Aboriginal Curators Delegation sent to the 2015 Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, the 2011 Venice Biennale, and the 2010 and 2008 Biennale of Sydney. She received the 2006 Canada Council for the Arts Assistance to Aboriginal Curators Grant for Residencies in the Visual Arts. She was a speaker at the University of Manitoba's School of Art 100th Anniversary Symposium in 2013, which had a theme of Indigenizing the Campus Through Art. She is known for her work with acrylics, mixed media and incorporation of traditional Aboriginal iconography. Her visual works include experimentation with three-dimensional works using the "traditional materials of the Anishnaabe. The installation has toured since it debuted in Ottawa in 2007. LaVallee's visual work of native iconography has recently been displayed in different group exhibits across Canada:
Selected Curatorial Projects
2015: Moving Forward, Never Forgetting (Co-Curator), Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina Saskatchewan
2013: 7 Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina Saskatchewan
2012: 13 Coyotes: Edward Poitras, Mackenzie Art Gallery Regina Saskatchewan
2009: Blow Your House In: Vernon Ah Kee, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan
2008 Wally Dion, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, SK
2008: Miss Chief: Shadow Catcher – Kent Monkman Mackenzie Art Gallery Regina Saskatchewan
2007: Re/translation: Land & Language, A Space Toronto Canada
Exhibitions
2012: Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 3, Museum of Arts and Design, New York City, New York
2010: Love, Saskatchewan, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario
2009: Flatlanders: Saskatchewan Artists on the Horizon, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
2008: Myths of the Land, Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario (show included art from members of the Canadian Group of Seven (artists) and contemporary members of the Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporated (PNIAI), aka "The Indian Group of Seven," including Norval Morrisseau and Ron Noganosh)