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Art and nature: Christi Belcourt, a Métis artist, has always addressed the cyclical relationship between people and nature. Her large paintings of floral designs are made of dots created by dipping the end of a paintbrush or knitting needle into paint and pressing onto the canvas to evoke 19th-century Métis floral beadwork. The look of beadwork pays homage to the Métis tradition, says Nadia Kurd, curator at Thunder Bay Art Gallery. It also links thematically to the Woodland School made popular by Lake-region artists Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig and Roy Thomas.
Christi, an environmentalist and activist who grew up in Ottawa, lives north of Manitoulin Island. Her work celebrates the beauty of the natural world and traditional Indigenous views on spirituality and natural medicines, while it explores nature’s symbolic properties. It’s also meant as an environmental statement to protect the Earth and all on it.
Thunder Bay Art Gallery
Continue to read this article in Lake Superior Magazine.
