About Urban Shaman

*Above image Urban Shaman as it pretty much is today at 290 McDermot Ave location

MISSION STATEMENT
Urban Shaman is an Aboriginal artist-run centre dedicated to meeting the needs of artists by providing a vehicle for artistic expression in all disciplines and at all levels by taking a leadership role in the cultivation of Indigenous art.

VISION
Urban Shaman presents contemporary Indigenous Aboriginal art with integrity while remaining rooted in our diverse Aboriginal cultures.

MANDATE
Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art is a nationally recognized leader in Aboriginal arts programming and one of the foremost venues and voices for Aboriginal art in Canada. Our focus on developing new programming and new ways of presenting it have resulted in increased exposure and the expansion of our activities. Urban Shaman is dedicated to the Aboriginal arts community and arts community at large.

• Committed to serving the needs of emerging, mid-career, and established Aboriginal artists through exhibitions and associated programming, workshops, residencies and curatorial initiatives.
• Dedicated to contributing to art historical and cultural critical discourses on a local, national, and international level.
• Committed to facilitating artistic production, education, and appreciation of contemporary art as an important and empowering tool for Aboriginal peoples.

Admission to the gallery is free.

pēyakwan kīsik kakwāyaki-ispīhcāw / As Immense as the Sky

In Plains Cree (English translation to follow)
Meryl McMaster: pēyakwan kīsik kakwāyaki-ispīhcāw / As Immense as the Sky

ka-isi kiskēyihtamahk tānimatahtwaw ka-miyāskatamahk ispayiwin wiyastāw itāhkōmitowin
isi ēkwa mīna ka-isi nisitohtamahk kēhciwāk kī-taskiynaw. ni-nākatohkāmatowin ispayiwin ohci pē-ohcipayin nīswayak āniskostēwin nisitohnākwan isi mācihtāwin—pēyak itowahk pimastēw isi mēskanās ēkwānima āniskostēw āh-āyītaw kiskinohtahēwin anohc ohci, ēkwa kotak itowahk aya kāh-kīhtwām mīna tahki. ōma āsowahonān ohci askiy itāpisiniwin ka-kī-awāsisīwiwiyan aspin ohci pē-ohcipayin, ayis ni-kī-nihtāwikin nīswayak isi wītisānīhitowin nakahpēhanohk mīna nēhiyānāhk.

ka-māmitonēyihcikatēk ispayiwin ēkwa misahci nāh-nāway isi pimātisiwin kāh-kīhtwām
kāwi ita kayās mistassini (misi-asiniy), sputinas (kaskatināw), wiyacahk (posiskatināw),
ēkwa mīna ayakow awacha (yēkawaciyanihk) ohci mihkināhk ministik pē-osīhcikatēw
pēyakwan kīsik kakwāyaki-ispīhcāw. ōhi māmitonēyihcikēwina ni-miyikon māmaskātēyihtamowin, māka mīna koskonam pīhci-niya astāsiwin mēcimwāci kiyānaw ōma ka-māmawohkamahk tōcikēmakana wakīc kī-miyo taskiynaw.

ta-mawinēhaman ōma astāsiwin, ni-nōcihtān iyinīsiwin ita kayās ni-wāhkōmākanak
ō-pimātisiwiniwaw, ni-natohtēn tāpwē-ācimowin niwāhkōmākanak ohci,
kiskēyihtamakēwiyiniwak, nitōtēmak, ēkwa mīna ayisiyiniwak ka-kī opapāmācihōcik ōta askīhk pāmwayēs niya. Ita otōtēmiwin, pimācihowin, mīna pisiskēyihcikēwin itēhkēskamik ohci nakiskātēn ni-wīci-nēhiyawak ohci mīna opītatowēwak kayas ni-wāhkōmākanak ni-māci-wāpahcikān mīna ni-māwacihtān wiyawāw ō-kiskēyihtamowina mīna ta-pimātisihtāman mīna ta- ācimostātitaman tipiyawē pītosi-isi sāpo masinipayiwina.

mihcēcis ita ka-kiyokēyan ayātinkatēw kihci-itēyihtamowin kēhciwāc ni-wāhkōmākanak
kici ayis ohi pēyak-wayak mistahi ki-itēyihtakwan ispīhk wīyawaw ō-pimātisiwiniwaw;
ni-otamiyohikon ōhi ita pēyak-wayak mitoni mitēhihk ohci ka-mōsihtahk ācimowina
āpihtawāyihk akāmihk ēkwa mīna sāwanohk isi kisiskāciwani-sīpiy isko nātakām isi wīpat akāmōtēnāhk pihci Ontario mīna Newfoundland. ni-pakosēyimon kāh-kīhtwām
ta-otōtēmiyan ēkwāniki asici ka-kī-pē-itohtēcik pāmwayēs niya ēkosi isi ni-nakiskātēn askiy ita ka-kī wīkicik.

ni-pē wapahtēn askiy ka-isinākwahk pēyakwan mahki-asiwacikan ē-ayāwahikinikatēk kiskēyihtamowin. pēyakwan kīsik kakwāyaki-ispīhcāw māmiskōtam ta-pimohtēh ōhi mitoni kayās mēskanawa, ta-pisiskāpahtamahk nanātohk Isi itāpisiniwin, ēkwa mīna kiskēyihtamowin ēwako ohci kayas ni-wāhkōmākanak ō-yinisowiniwaw.

ka-osīhcikātēkih ōhi masinipayiwina kikinikātēw mosci mēskocipayiwin ispayiwin iskohk
mēkwac anohc. ōhi acimowina kayas (kayās ohci) mīna astāsiwin kīmwēwin isi nīkānihk pīminam miyaw askiy asici, ni-pakosēyimon kahkiyaw ta-pisiskēyihtamahk kinwēs mīna sēhkē ta-manācihtāyahk misiwēskamik.

Artist BIO to be translated in Plains Cree soon

Artist Statement
As Immense as the Sky (2019)

The way we experience the passing of time shapes our relationship to and understanding of our immediate world. My awareness of time comes from an overlapping of two distinct approaches – one is that of a linear path that extends in both directions from the present, and another one that is recurrent and cyclical. This intersection of world views has been part of my upbringing, a result of being born into a family both Western and Indigenous.

Contemplating time and the countless cycles of life that have recurred around the ancient mistassini (monoliths), sputinas (buttes), wiyacahk (canyons) and ayeakow awacha (dunes) of Turtle Island led to the development of As Immense as the Sky. These thoughts left me in a state of wonderment, but also stirred within me a fearful apprehension of our permanent and collective impact upon our beautiful world.

To confront this fear, I sought wisdom in the places of ancestral life, listening to the truths of relatives, Elders, friends and peoples who have traversed this land before me.  At the social, cultural and environmental contact zones of my Indigenous and European ancestors I set out to study and collect their knowledge and to animate and re-tell it in a personally transformative process through photography. 

Many places I visited hold particular meaning for my direct ancestors as they are sites of significant moments in their lives; I was drawn to the sites of ancient stories across central and southern Saskatchewan and to the shores of early settlement in Ontario and Newfoundland. My aim was to reconnect with those who came before me as a way of introducing myself to the land on which they lived.

I came to see these landscapes as immense time capsules of buried knowledge. As Immense as the Sky is about walking these ancient paths, experiencing the diversity of panoramas, and learning about my ancestors’ wisdom.

The resulting images are a blend and collapse of time into the present. The stories of kayas (long ago) and the foreboding whispers of the future intertwine my body with the land, in the hope that we all maintain a long-term ecological equilibrium with the world around us.

Meryl McMaster – Bio
Meryl McMaster was born and is currently based in Ottawa, Canada. Her family is from Red Pheasant First Nations in Saskatchewan and she is a member of the Siksika First Nation in Alberta. She earned a BFA in Photography from OCAD University in Toronto (2010). Known for her large-format self-portraits that have a distinct performative quality, she explores questions of self through land, lineage, history, and culture, with specific reference to her mixed Plains Cree European ancestry. McMaster’s work has been included in solo and group exhibitions throughout Canada and abroad, including the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON), Ryerson Image Centre (Toronto, ON), Australian Centre for Photography (Sydney, AUS), Smithsonian’s National Museum of American Indian (New York, NY), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, ON), Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (Santa Fe, NM), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, QC), and the Ikon Gallery (Birmingham, UK). Her awards include the Scotiabank New Generation Photography Award (2018), REVEAL Indigenous Art Award (2017), Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellow Award (2013), Charles Pachter Prize for Emerging Artists (2012), Canon Canada Prize (2010), OCAD U Medal (2010) and was shortlisted for the Louis Roederer Discovery Award (2019) and longlisted for the 2016 Sobey Art Award. Her work is widely represented in collections of the National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Eiteljorg Museum, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Museum London, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Ottawa Art Gallery, Canadian Museum of History, National Museum of American Indian.

Urban Shaman: Contemporary Aboriginal Art Gallery acknowledges the support, throughout the year, of our friends, volunteers, community and all our relations, NCI FM, CAHRD, Winnipeg Foundation, Manitoba Heritage, the Winnipeg Arts Council, the Manitoba Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts and University of Manitoba School of Art. ~Miigwetch/ Hai Hai/ Ekosi / Merci/ Thank you

 

Brennan Mckay

Boozhoo!

Brennan Mckay is Treaty from the Pine Creek First Nation. He came to Winnipeg seven years ago from dauphin, Manitoba, where he attended high school and is now a recent graduate of CDI college for social media marketing. Other passions of his include dance (jigging/ square dancing, contemporary and pow-wow) and photography. 

Brennan is working on Urban Shaman’s new partnership project with Winnipeg Trails Association called The Speech Act Project. In each language there is a differing philosophy between meaning, the constitution of sentences, concepts, learning, thoughts, references and intentionality. In philosophy of language and linguistics, a speech act is something expressed by an individual that not only presents information but performs an action as well. Generously funded by Canadian Heritage through the Indigenous Languages and Cultures Program – Indigenous Languages Component 2020-2021 stream. It is building on a previous project called, “Sacred Sounds” that is a campaign promoting cultural literacy in Indigenous Languages.
Indigenous languages should be a part of the official languages in Canada or at least more prominent given our history. As we are learning our languages and special dialects, we encourage everyone to learn with us.On the social media platforms of facebook and instagram, Brennan’s word exhibition will be post monday to friday. The purpose of “his initiative is to see the language in the digital landscape. And on thursdays, a trivia will be posted consisting of questions and answers regarding Indigenous languages, history and life.

Brennan Mckay began interning at Urban Shaman Gallery December 2020 and will be with us until October. He will be publishing his word exhibition, backed by his own photography, in Ojibwe, Cree, Dene, and Dakota for the next ten months until October 4 2021.

Watch for more from the speech act project, including continued regular gallery programming translation and for special off site programming in partnership with Winnipeg Trails Association in the 2021/2022 year.