A child excitedly fills the expanse of her drawing paper with huge, bold, vibrant irregular patches of colour bordered with thick black lines arduously applied with the oversized graphite pencil clenched in her tiny fist. A sudden shadow cast over her art from behind her is accompanied with terse vocalization. “WHAT are you doing? Don’t do that – that’s not pretty. Stop that” The teacher tries to disengage the child from her artistic intent time and again. It doesn’t work. When I first began working with stained glass – I could still hear the remonstrations from long ago. Here I was, working with bold, vibrant, irregular patches of colour, bordered with heavy lead lines. Another early memory – scribbling over the face of a file folder with a fine tip pen, then filling in where the dragon was. My father, a draftsman – would come home to find his carbon paper gone, and mechanical pencils gutted. It was never my sister he bellowed for – it was a given I had appropriated his supplies. I thank that teacher from long ago – in her disapproval came the lesson to follow your heart. Thanks Dad for not getting too mad at me when you found me pulling the springs from your pencils apart in order to ready them for my next creation. Since graduation from the twoyear Creative Communications course at Red River College in Winnipeg, Ive worked in media as a broadcaster, account executive, copywriter, and promotion director. My desire for tactile arts experience led to an eightyear career as a floral designer, and formal art studies. My art instruction experience includes teaching developmentally challenged children and adults at the Manitoba Developmental Centre 19962001, and the Manitoba Provincial Government 1999 FASFetal Alcohol Syndrome pilot project. From 1999 to 2001, I instructed with ArtsSmarts Manitoba in schools throughout the Portage and District area, as well as at educator inservices, children and adult summer camps, and an evening program in acrylic landscape painting at Red River College Southport Campus. In October of 1996, I experienced my first professional exhibition. A cultural display of art by Aboriginal women of Manitoba, the four woman show, ‘Prairie Visions’, was presented in Churchill, Manitoba, and sponsored by the Manitoba Arts Council. I taught graphite illustration and portraiture, and acrylic painting live in the teaching studio as well as via IITV Interactive Instructional Television System at Fairholme Colony SchoolPortage, weekly, through the school year from 2001 2006. My students exhibitions at the Portage and District Arts Centre, ‘EinblickeGlimpses’ and “Hutterisches LebenHutterite Life”, took place in June, 2003, and September, 2006. I also taught in a variety of media at my studio. In September, 2004, January, 2006, and June, 2007 I was awarded Aboriginal Arts Creative Development Grants by the Manitoba Arts Council. In September 2006, a Manitoba Arts Council Travel Grant enabled me to participate in an Arts Symposium in Wendake, Quebec, where I demonstrated acrylic painting technique. Im a band member of the Abenaki reserve at Odanak, Quebec. Manitoba has been my home since 1974. My Abenaki father, served in the Canadian Armed Forces overseas. I established my studio Abenaki Artworks in 1995 – in memory of my father. I operated my retail gallery from 1999 2007. To allow for more focused, creative discipline, I’ve established studios in my residence, each dedicated to a specific medium: painting, glass, and digital. I enjoyed the retail environment – a valuable experience through which I continue to enjoy the relationships developed with dedicated patrons. I served as an assessor for the 2005 ArtsSmarts Manitoba project proposal process held in Winnipeg, and was a juror of the 2005 and 2007 Central Region Juried Art Exhibition. I was honoured to be invited as a Manitoba delegate participating in the 2006 National Aboriginal Arts Administrators and Funders Gathering held June 811 in SeptIles, Quebec. The Innu community were the gracious hosts of this event. Participating in the 2007 NAAFG Gathering in Cranberry Portage, August 9 12, 2007 was another amazing experience. The hospitality of the community at Cranberry Portage is forever appreciated.

Telephone: (204) 857-5945
Website: http://www.abenakiartworks.mb.ca/