Spring23_Faye HeavyShield - Exhibition Guide_Mar 10–Aug 6, 2023

Faye HeavyShield: Confluences Over the course of her four-decade career, Faye HeavyShield (b. 1953) has created multidisciplinary work that explores identity, family, and place. She is a member of the Blackfoot Confederacy from the Kainai (pronounced “guy-nuh”) or Blood First Nation and she lives and works on her community’s reserve in the foothills of southern Alberta. HeavyShield studied sculpture at the Alberta College of Art and Design. Over time, as she forged her own art practice, she decidedly rooted it in her personal history, community, and connection to the land. The poetry and power of HeavyShield’s work lies in its visual simplicity. Her pared-down, minimal forms bring together complex and layered references. This includes her homeland— a windswept prairie with expansive grasslands and wide-open skies. HeavyShield’s use of spare lines, earthen colors, and natural imagery reflects these surroundings. Her connection to the land is deep rooted. She has said: The environment is an extension of myself because it’s always been there. It was one of the first things that I saw and smelled. I consider it a part of me. The landscape is an extension of the body because we’re dependent on it, and to flip that, the landscape is dependent on us. We’re sharing a space.