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In the heart of downtown Montreal, just where
you would least expect it, you will find a colourful reminder that you can
take an artist out of Eeyou Istchee, but you can’t take Eeyou Istchee
out of the artist.
If you are in town this month, now is your chance to see what Glenna Matoush
has been up to recently. Matoush’s colourful multimedia paintings
are on exhibit throughout November at the Canadian Guild of Crafts at 1460
Sherbrooke St.West.
Although Matoush has been living and working in Montreal for the past 11
years, many of the works in the show were directly inspired by the people,
events and culture of Eeyou Istchee. "Meant for… Ella" is
a tribute to her late friend, Ella Saganash. The words "She walked
Out" in Cree syllabics run along the frame of one large painting of
three mitchuaps that commemorates her grand daughter’s walking out
ceremony in Waswanipi.
Other themes in Matoush’s work address cultural and political concerns
of First Nations people everywhere—cultural appropriation, for example.
The "Transporting Shaman" series of small and large-scale works
was started three years ago, after controversy erupted around the discovery
near Collingwood, Ontario of ancient pictographs. Archaeologists argued
that Vikings created these rock paintings, but the local Indians say that
they are Native depictions of shaman transporting souls to the heavens.
Matoush’s response was to reclaim these ancient images in her own
work. She has produced richly textured, colourful paintings that feature
symbols found in the rock paintings: Vessels displaying the symbols found
in the pictographs are built up with layers of birch bark and surrounded
by swirls of luminously colourful beads.
Three pieces in the "Transporting Shaman" series stand out in
stark contrast to the warm colours and textures of the majority of the works.
These more abstract paintings in black, white and flecks and streams of
blue come from what Matoush refers to as her "dark period." Sad
news from her old home of Mistissini led her to create these layered, glossy,
dark images. At her opening, Matoush explained that the blue forms in these
pieces are meant to convey the sense of souls being carried away by water.
These thin slivers and wider rivers of sky blue prevent these paintings
from being overwhelmingly sombre. Even when dealing with serious or sad
events, Matoush injects her paintings with a positive sensitivity that gives
them a comforting aura.
Now a prolific painter, Matoush actually started out as a print maker. Having
studied printmaking at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Guilde Graphique,
she used this to set up a makeshift studio in her kitchen in Mistissini,
with her etching plate set on top of an open cutlery drawer and her acid
bath on the counter. In 1987 Matoush built with her own hands a studio as
an addition to her log cabin. Then, in the summer of 1990, she attended
a ten-day painting workshop led by Pierre Leon Tetrault. "We were working
outside. I was making a painting every day. We used so much canvas they
had to order more." Matoush fondly remembers that she brought 10-year-old
nephew Kevin Mianscum with her. He turned out to be the most avant-garde
of all the participants, jumping into abstract painting right from the get
go. "The paint was flying all over!" At one point she turned around
to find him covered head to toe in black paint. "I told him to go jump
in the lake to get cleaned up." In 1992, she left Mistissini to embark
on her career as a painter in Montreal.
For those who can’t jump on a plane and head down to Montreal, worry
not. Within the next year or so you will be able to see a fine example of
Matoush’s work in Mistissini at the Hotel Museum. She has been commissioned
to produce an 8 by 30-foot mural. "The Wall of Personalities"
will depict local community members of the past and present.
You can also check out Matoush’s work on the web at www.creeculture.ca.
Glenna Matoush, Works on Paper and Canvas at the Canadian Guild of Crafts
from October 31 to November 29. 1460 Sherbrooke St. West, Suite B, Montreal.
Ph: (514) 849-6091
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