JANE ASH POITRAS

 

Keeping the Circle Strong: From Caribou to Bison People

 

Dr. Jane Ash Poitras or Tchilekwiyusse / Little Boy Child (Mikisew Cree First Nation), CM RCA (Member of the Order of Canada [CM] and Royal Canadian Academy of Arts [RCA]) is a Canadian First Nations artist who lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

 

She has received many honors as an internationally acclaimed visual artist and lecturer who has influenced a successive generation of artists and students. Poitras combines her many diverse interests in pursuit of her distinctive artistic vision, including current politics, pharmacology, ethnobotany, linguistics, and literature. For this unprecedented exhibition at MAM, Poitras has created an entirely new body of work focused on Indigenous/non-Indigenous shared history and future, anxiety about climate change, environmental reciprocity, and current political developments.

 

Poitras makes collaged, layered work, overpainted with thin washes, often with handwritten text, and incorporating found objects. She expresses a deep commitment to the politics and issues common to Indigenous peoples. She says the major themes of her work as “women, climate change, family, land, and environment.” Her work is about flipping and broadening perspectives, connecting different viewpoints and histories, and reconciling differences or rather, considering, opposing viewpoints.

 

She says, “I am exploring and creating art about reconciliation. Healing of nations coming together to make the world a better place. Presently the world is in conflict… this body of art will bridge ideas of coming together, exploring how we are all more alike than different.”

Poitras was born in Fort Chipewyan in 1951 and was adopted by a German-Canadian widow after her mother died of tuberculosis. Her adoptive parent didn’t understand that it might have been worthwhile for her new daughter to have an opportunity to identify with her native culture and Poitras “became part of the Canadian mainstream” as she says. By the time she was 30 she reconnected with her Indigenous ancestry—a seminal event which changed her perspective on how she defined herself in the world.

Poitras holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees from the University of Alberta, BFA in print and design at Yale University, and MFA at Columbia University in New York. She has received numerous awards in recognition of her achievements and contributions that include the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and honorary doctorates from the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta.

 

Jane Ash Poitras just concluded her show with the Missoula Art Museum

September 24, 2024 – February 6, 2025

 

We are pleased to be representing Jane Ash Poitras and her paintings in our Santa Fe and Scottsdale galleries as well as online at faustgallery.com

 

The Missoula Art Museum (MAM) is a fully accessible, free, contemporary art museum located in the heart of historic downtown Missoula, Montana. Since opening its doors in 1975, MAM has grown into the leading contemporary art museum in the Intermountain West. Admission is free every day, thanks to the generosity of MAM members and donors. Housed in a beautifully restored Carnegie Library seamlessly fused with a contemporary addition. MAM offers eight dynamic exhibition spaces, a library, an education center, an inviting information lounge, and the Art Park, an outdoor extension of the museum opened in 2017. Accredited by the American Association of Museums and a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit since 1995, MAM continues to celebrate and preserve its growing contemporary art collection.

MAM is committed to representing contemporary Indigenous artistic expression faithfully and collaboratively. MAM honors the ongoing sovereignty of the Séliš and Ql̓ispé Tribal peoples, who agreed through Treaty to live in peace with settlers of this land. Tribal people inspire MAM’s efforts to create and maintain a beloved, inclusive community. MAM respects the original sacrifice made by Indigenous peoples.