FROM THUNDER BAY ART GALLERY’S COLLECTION

Artist: Olivia Whetung Title: #35 Date: 2015 Medium: 10/0 seed beads, thread, steel Dimensions: variable

This month, instead of revisiting an older work in our collection, we’re celebrating something new. The Thunder Bay Art Gallery is delighted to announce a new acquisition of the beaded work #35 by Olivia Whetung. The title of the work references the historic name of the artist’s home community of Curve Lake First Nation #35. Between 1889 and 1964, the community’s name was Mud Lake Band #35, part of Treaty 20 territory.

If you visited the gallery in the fall of 2019, you would have first encountered Whetung’s #35 as part of the exhibition Beads, they're sewn so tight, organized and circulated by the Textile Museum of Canada, and guest curated by Lisa Myers. A central work in this exhibition, Whetung’s beaded piece is made of thousands of clear glass seed beads carefully loom-woven and resembling a shawl or blanket. Appearing almost like pixels on a monitor, the beads reflect light in a way that creates a holographic effect. A subtle eight-pointed star is only visible from certain angles. A small metal object holds a map of the Curve Lake community’s land base, obscured by thread and beads.The closer you move towards this work, the more it reveals.

This beadwork installation speaks to land, place, and presence.

#35 adds to the conversation about land use issues, traditional lands, and the treaties that have shaped relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada. As part of the permanent collection,

FROM THE THUNDER BAY ART GALLERY’S COLLECTION

this work will continue to contribute to this discussion through curated exhibitions, education programs, online platforms, and public events.

This work is the latest addition to the gallery’s permanent collection of over 1,600 works of art. Part of the Thunder Bay Art Gallery’s mandate is to collect, study, and exhibit contemporary art by Indigenous artists and to assist in connecting emerging artists with the public. We are so proud this work has found a home in our community.

The acquisition of this work by the gallery was made possible by receiving a grant from the Elizabeth L. Gordon Art Program, organized by the Ontario Arts Foundation and the Gordon Foundation.