UNews - Jackson 2Bears

Two Bears named Tier II Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts Research and Technology

trevor.kenney — Mon, 24 Aug 2020 16:13:47 +0000

The Government of Canada has named Jackson Two Bears, associate professor of Indigenous art studio and media arts at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, a Tier II Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Indigenous Arts Research and Technology.

Jackson Two Bears' proposed research program involves the creation of large-scale, site specific, interactive, multimedia installations. PHOTO by Amanda Berg

As a Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) person, the core of Two Bears’ research is respect: respect for land, culture and communities. With a focus on Indigenous land-based histories and embodied cultural knowledge, his research explores the use of digital technology to support the innovation, transmission, expression and transformation of FNMI creative and cultural practices.

“My research asks one crucial question: what does reconciliation and decolonization look like in the digital age?” explains Two Bears. “The central part of the research is thinking about how we as Indigenous people are storytellers, how we think about our history and our knowledge formation, and how that way of being is connected to land and place.”

His proposed research program involves the creation of large-scale, site specific, interactive, multimedia installations; the development of a geolocation based, multimedia app featuring mobile media, and Virtual Reality artworks; and a major publication focused on exploring reconciliation and decolonization in the digital age.

Selecting historical locations, Two Bears works with the original keepers of the land as collaborators, immersing himself in the setting, culture and history of the space. This immersive research methodology led to the development of a unique course, LandMarks, where he invites students to join him on location, diving deeper into the history and original stories of the land, then working together to create site-specific artistic responses.

“Knowledge and learning are community-based,” says Two Bears. “We couldn’t be on campus, we had to be on location. The point wasn’t to study the location from afar but to be immersed in it, spend time there, find our way in that space.”

The course ends with an outdoor exhibition of installations in and around Indian Battle Park. For future installations and digital works, Two Bears will continue to collaborate with elders, knowledge-keepers and members of the community in specific geographical locations, primarily in Treaty 7 Blackfoot territory, and in his home community of Six Nations.

“My unique research and creative program aims to build capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect through collaborative engagement with multidisciplinary projects focused on creative renewal, revitalization and cultural expression in our communities.”

As a Canada Research Chair, Two Bears now has the resources and institutional support to continue his ambitious research-creation goals while engaging more students in his work and processes.

“I’ve always been really interested in bringing students into my research practice and providing research-based learning. Now I can facilitate more of that,” says Two Bears. “My research is interconnected with the classes I’m teaching and the work I do myself. Being a research chair helps enable these multidisciplinary processes.”

Earning a research chair in the arts not only provides additional opportunities for students and research colleagues, it also shows validity in the research topic and methodology.

“There are very few Indigenous Canada Research Chairs out there, even fewer in the arts, so this shows a commitment to different kinds of research,” says Two Bears. “In the arts we’re always working to explain the things we do and the importance of what we do, so it is great that embodied creative practice as knowledge formation is being recognized as a form of research itself.”

Seeing the development of Two Bears’ methodology, the relationships he builds with students and Indigenous communities, and the breadth of work created between him and his inspired students, the Faculty of Fine Arts is excited to see what develops through his tenure as a CRC.

“Jackson’s work, and the increased opportunities it offers our students, resonates within and outside our university and with our ongoing work towards more inclusive practices,” says Dr. Mary Ingraham, dean, Faculty of Fine Arts. “Jackson’s passion for contemporary and traditional expressions of Indigenous lifeways is without parallel and we are excited to witness the increased possibilities for new student voices and programs as they collaborate with him in the coming years.”

Two Bears is among 182 new and renewed research chairs named for the Spring 2020 Canada Research Chairs program. The Government of Canada invested $140 million, with an additional $4.6 million in new funding for research infrastructure from the Canada Foundation for Innovation. In its 20th year, the Canada Research Chair program continues to provide opportunities for researchers to excel in their fields and build teams of experts at Canadian institutions.

Documentary film Visualizing Agriculture to premiere at Crossing Boundaries

trevor.kenney — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 16:47:25 +0000

What started as a class project became a creative collision of art and science on display. Fortunately, it was all captured on film. Visualizing Agriculture, a documentary co-directed by Leanne Elias (MEd ’03; BFA – Art ’95) and Bryn Hewko (MFA – New Media ’16), premieres at the Crossing Boundaries Symposium, October 26 at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

Elias, Crossing Boundaries keynote speaker and Department of New Media professor, will premiere the documentary and discuss the collaborative efforts of artists and scientists in the work executed in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Data Physicalization Lab.

The film features the collaborative efforts of artists and scientists in the work executed in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Data Physicalization Lab.

With the desire to build a method for interdisciplinary research and creation, Elias and Department of Art faculty colleague Denton Fredrickson, took on the challenge of finding a way for art to play a role in the dissemination of scientific research data. They didn’t just want to use art to communicate science, they aimed to develop a method of cross-collaborative research and development that put scientists and artists from different disciplines in the same room, tackling the same project. This endeavour was the launch of the Data Physicalization Lab.

Data physicalization is a relatively new field of study. Data visualization can be understood simply as a bar chart, a 2D visual of information. Data physicalization takes that a step further, by mapping information to something that is physical, taking it off the screen and putting it into objects.

Inviting Art and New Media students to participate, research scientists from the Lethbridge Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, provided a dataset for the students to analyze and visualize. Through semesters of engagement with this process, Elias and Fredrickson were able to develop an instructional pedagogy and creative practice.

“We wanted to make sure that the data was accurately represented in all the work so we knew the scientist needed to be an integral part of the critique process,” explains Elias.

The students and scientists participated in critiques every three weeks, allowing them to continuously adapt or recreate their works before the next critique. At first, the artists were engaging with the dataset alone. Eventually a student asked for more context, to see first-hand the research that provided the data. After visiting the research station, the work exploded.

“It became really, really good after that. It changed the concept of the data in their minds; they understood it and could ask questions about it because it was all visual,” says Elias. “Those visuals worked their way into the art and design work. From there, Denton and I knew that it was a key element in this interdisciplinary formula – it wasn’t enough to bring science to art. We had to take the art into the science as well.”

Dr. Leanne Elias is the Crossing Boundaries keynote speaker and a Department of New Media professor.

Each semester the process of working with different disciplines became clearer until Elias and Fredrickson were ready to take the idea one step further. Using the formula created, they joined forces with the Southern Alberta Art Gallery (SAAG), and with funding from Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Community of Research Excellence Development Opportunities (CREDO) program of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, a professional artist residency, documentary film and exhibition was put into motion.

The results of this 18-month science-meets-art collaboration are produced in Visualizing Agriculture, a 20-minute documentary premiering at Crossing Boundaries, October 26 in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Recital Hall. With the help of the research funding, Bryn Hewko’s Output Media accepted the challenge of documenting the process from the first meeting through the final exhibition.

Six professional artists, Jackson 2Bears, Tori Foster, Mary-Anne McTrowe (BFA – Art ’98), Robyn Moody, Adrien Segal, and Michelle Sylvestre (MFA – New Media candidate; BFA – Art ’17), joined research scientists, Dr. André Laroche and Dr. Jamie Larson, for a weekend residency where they spent time at the research station analyzing two datasets around the genetic code of wheat. After the intensive residency, the artists returned to their own studios across Canada and the US.

“That's the period that Denton and I were really interested in because instead of having these check-ins every three weeks, now we were giving them the time to make their work. We were really interested in how much support they would need. How many times would they talk to the scientists? What were those conversations like? How often did they, or could they, return to the station for additional information?”

In February 2017, the Visualizing Agriculture exhibition opened at the SAAG, curated by Christina Cuthbertson (BFA – Art ‘05). “It was absolutely fascinating. All the artists approached it very differently… which you’ll see in the film,” teases Elias.

The documentary takes the audience through the whole process, from first meeting to the final exhibition highlighting the challenges and success of the facilitators, curator, artists and scientists. Filming any footage they could of the process and interviewing participants throughout project, the narrative came together as the exhibition did.

“This project was different than anything I’ve done before,” says Hewko. “Normally things are heavily scripted at the beginning, but here we didn’t know where it was going to go, so we just started filming and gathering interviews, and through the editing process we were able to find the real story.”

Audiences will be as surprised by the findings as Elias and Hewko were.

“I don’t want to spoil the documentary, but I think the key discovery for many of us was a changing definition of what data visualization or data physicalization is,” explains Hewko. “We had some expectation of what the artists might contribute, but what actually happened in a lot of cases was the artist’s reaction to the data. It wasn’t a direct representation, it was more of a reaction or a translation of the data. Their own processing of the information.”

See the final products from the artists, hear more from Leanne Elias on this interdisciplinary research method, and take in the premiere of Visualizing Agriculture during the keynote presentation at Crossing Boundaries. Purchase tickets online at ulethbridge.ca/tickets or by phone, Monday to Friday, 12:30-3:30 at 403-329-2616.

For a full schedule of activities and speakers visit go.uleth.ca/cboundaries.

U of L research project will provide access to detailed models of historical Blackfoot objects held in British museums

caroline.zentner — Wed, 22 May 2019 18:20:00 +0000

A team of ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers and Blackfoot Elders will soon embark on an ambitious project that will provide immediate virtual access to historical Blackfoot objects held in museums, thanks to federal funding from the New Frontiers in Research Fund.

The U of L researchers, led by Christine Clark (BFA ’10, MFA ’14), an assistant professor of New Media, and including Dr. Josie Mills, director and curator of the U of L Art Gallery, Danielle Heavy Head, Blackfoot Digital Library liaison, Jackson 2Bears, U of L art studio professor, and Marcus Dostie, U of L geography instructor, will create extraordinarily detailed 3D models of non-sacred Blackfoot objects held in British museums. Their collaborators in England include Louisa Minkin, MA Fine Art course leader at Central Saint Martins, Ian Dawson, co-director of the Critical Practices Research Group at Winchester School of Art, and Andy Jones, archaeology professor, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Southampton.

In order to adhere to their protocols and priorities, the project will be directed by Blackfoot Elders. Blackfoot approaches to knowledge emphasize the importance of caring for and sharing knowledge. The digital objects will be linked to people living in Treaty 7 territory through the Blackfoot Digital Library website, exhibitions at the U of L Art Gallery and live events, such as beading workshops.

The project is not focused on sacred objects nor on repatriation - the return of objects. Repatriation claims by Blackfoot elders focus on objects that would be returned and put back into use and as a result, these claims focus on sacred objects, such as ceremonial bundles. Mills explains “Our goal is to support sharing knowledge about how Blackfoot objects were made and to allow young artists to learn about historical techniques and materials. We will make images of everyday items which we can share with a wide audience because these do not have protocol restrictions.”

“This funding will allow us to study emerging technologies from a Blackfoot perspective. Imaging the artifacts in England is just the start; the biggest challenge is what we do with the resulting digital models,” says Clark. “We want to design media that reunites the objects with their traditional knowledge and supports the needs of the community, even in places where there isn’t high-speed internet access.”

“The importance of this project is huge for the Blackfoot Digital Library, as well as the Blackfoot community,” says Heavy Head. “These models are going to be freely available to our local artists. Many like to do traditional crafts like making beaded outfits and moccasins. This project allows them to examine the item closely, figure out how things were made back then and eventually be able to use those techniques in their contemporary pieces. These kinds of projects help us relearn, rediscover and re-ignite ceremony into the collective consciousness of our community.”

After creating detailed digital models of Blackfoot artifacts, the researchers will use digital tools, art-based public engagement and hyperlocal network technologies (for areas with limited access to high-speed Internet) to allow Blackfoot people to have immediate access and interact with the historical objects and their associated knowledge.

The research project begins with a trip to England with Blackfoot Elders and students to produce digital images of non-sacred objects in the British Museum, The Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge, and the Horniman Museum in London. To get an idea of some of the objects in the collections, read this article from the Horniman Museum & Gardens blog.

The research team will then produce web-based prototypes featuring the digital models to reunite the objects with their culture. In the final phases, the researchers will ensure the objects become part of the Blackfoot Digital Library website, as well as organize exhibitions and public programming to engage people with the knowledge held by the objects. Participants in the project will gain skills in digital media technologies—an area that needs more Indigenous voices. Indigenous youth will be involved in multifaceted workshops directly connected to their culture, creating an entry point for further learning and engagement.

“I’m excited about the professional development opportunities for our students,” says Mills. “This project will build bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and perspectives. We will be able to hire Blackfoot students to deliver programs in Lethbridge and on the Kainai, Piikani and Siksika reserves.”

The New Frontiers in Research Fund supports high-risk, high-reward and interdisciplinary research to help Canadian researchers make the next great discoveries in their fields.

Celebrating Canada 150 through art, LandMarks2017 opens in Indian Battle Park June 20

trevor.kenney — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 21:37:57 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge joins 15 post-secondary institutions, 12 leading Canadian artists, and seven curators in engaging with Canada 150 through LandMarks2017, a national art project. Created by Partners in Art (PIA) and presented by TD, this Canada 150 signature project brought artists together to creatively explore and connect with Canadian landmarks. From June 10-27, 100 contemporary art projects will be presented across 20 national parks and historic sites, including right here in Lethbridge at Indian Battle Park.

On Tuesday, June 20 at 4 p.m., Jackson 2Bears’ (Art) studio art class opens its exhibition, Spatial Storytelling: land, art, place and community, in Fort Whoop Up and around Indian Battle Park. 2Bears chose Indian Battle Park because of its proximity to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, the history in the land, and its importance to Treaty 7 and the Blackfoot people.

Jackson 2Bears’ (Art) studio art class with local Blackfoot Elders. The exhibition, which opens with a reception at 4 p.m., Tuesday, June 20 at Fort Whoop Up, is open to the public until June 27.

“A good deal of what we did in the class had to do with studying and learning about that space,” says 2Bears. “So most of our classes happened down at the Fort in partnership with the Galt Museum, who were very generous with their time and allowing us to use their facility.”

Instead of spending their time working in art studios, students spent time off campus, in the Fort, hearing from the knowledge keepers of the Blackfoot territory.

“It was important to me at the outset that the course acknowledge the traditional territories of this area and the place we were working,” says 2Bears. “It was crucial to have people come in from the Blackfoot community and share the knowledge properly as the keepers of this land. It made sense for this to be a core part of the project.”

Guest speakers included Blanche Bruised Head, who welcomed the class onto Blackfoot territory and gave them permission to work there; John and Keith Chief Moon, who shared traditional songs and Napi stories; Terry Many Grey Horses, who spoke about moon cycles and tipi building; Susan Burrows-Johnson, who spoke about the history of the fort; and Martha Many Grey Horses, who was crucial in helping bring the LandMarks2017 project to life at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

“As a Mohawk, I’m a guest here in this territory,” says 2Bears. “Even when I first moved here, Martha introduced me to the community and helped me feel welcome here at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and also in the territory.”

Many Grey Horses helped arrange several of the speakers who shared their knowledge and inspiration with the class. Knowledge keepers presented day-long workshops on everything from Blackfoot creation stories, to the history of the area, and the history of the fort.

“All that information fed in to students doing their own work about that space, they collaborated a little bit here and there, but we all ended up making our own works,” says 2Bears.

The result is a collection of pieces that vary in scope and medium.

“Our projects are both celebratory and critical of Canada and the history of colonialization, the history of the fort itself, and people’s response to that,” explains 2Bears.

Visitors to the exhibition will see sculptures, paintings, performance and installation art, sound and video works. The pieces all tell a story, inspired by the knowledge keepers as well as the student’s own research.

For example, Alison Frank became interested in ammolite, which is very important to the treaties and is part of many creation stories. It also speaks to the mining extraction that took place on that land. From this inspiration, Frank created clay versions through raku firing, which creates a metallic or luminescent rainbow-like colour that looks a lot like ammolite.

Also in the exhibition are a virtual video piece by Joel Cross Child; a sculpture by Dene artist Jennifer Bowen, which represents a portal between this territory and her own in Yellowknife; a large living sculpture using indigenous plants by Michelle Sylvestre; and a group project involving 15 youth silhouettes by Deirdre Earl.

The exhibition, which opens with a reception at 4 p.m., Tuesday, June 20 at Fort Whoop Up, is open to the public until June 27. LandMarks2017 is a collaboration of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, Partners in Art, Susan Burrows-Johnson, CEO/Executive Director of the Galt Museum and local artist Tanya Doody, who was crucial in providing labour and technical work in the project development.

Community invited to help reconstruct vandalized art piece

trevor.kenney — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 21:05:32 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge art student Sarah Russell planned to share a message of unity through her artwork in the LandMarks2017 exhibition. However, vandals rearranged her work into a crude image on the side of the coulee in Indian Battle Park. Russell’s artwork, which represented the Blackfoot symbol for unity, now needs just that – people to unite to help rebuild the installation before the opening reception on June 20.

As part of the national art project LandMarks2017, a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ art class has been working hard since January to create artworks to celebrate Canada’s 150^th anniversary. Aimed at exploring and connecting with the land, LandMarks2017 consists of 100 works presented in 20 national parks and historic sites from June 10-27. Sixteen universities and 12 leading Canadian artists created works for the exhibitions.

Everyone is invited to play a part in an act of unity by joining artist Sarah Russell at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 20 at Fort Whoop Up to assist in reconstructing the symbol on the coulee.

The main objective of LandMarks2017 is to encourage exploration and inspire dialogue about the history of the land. Universities were invited to participate and Jackson 2Bears adopted the project for his topics course: Art 3850 – LandMarks 2017 (Spatial Storytelling: Land, Art, Place and Community). 2Bears brought in knowledge keepers from the Blackfoot community to share the history of the land and the people with the students.

Russell, a Kainai-Piikani Blackfoot herself, wanted to come to the table without any labels. “The elders really opened up my mind to be positive, so I wanted to create something that was positive out of negative,” explained Russell. “I wanted to represent the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, I wanted to represent the Blackfoot people, and I wanted to represent the territory.”

Russell was inspired by the Blackfoot symbol for unity and decided to take on the enormous task of hand painting more than 150 rocks, placing them on the coulee-side by Indian Battle Park. The piece was large enough you could see it across the river from ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall. The project was extremely labour intensive, not just in finding, painting and placing the rocks, but also the formal process she went through in securing permission to create the piece.

“You can’t just go and take a rock,” explained Russell. “In our culture we believe that everything is alive, and has its place, so I didn’t feel comfortable just going to take rocks. Therefore, I had to talk to the elders about how to obtain the rocks respectfully for this piece.”

Russell also needed to receive permission from the elder who originally created the symbol before she could recreate it. “I had to track him down, understand the meaning behind the symbol, and get permission from him,” continued Russell. “I asked him about the meaning of painting the rocks white and he said it was up to my interpretation. But the symbol was a gift to the Blackfoot people and it is a gift to me to use it however I wanted to.”

Russell’s interpretation of the symbol and the message she hoped to share through her art, was about connecting all people, not just First Nations. “The symbol is to unite the Blackfoot confederacy,” said Russell. “But I wanted to push it a little bit further and unite all human beings.”

Unfortunately, between May 20-23 the rocks were reconfigured into a crude shape, and with frustration and disappointment, Russell removed all traces of her work. “I started with seven rocks, and they were really heavy,” said Russell. It took two months to get every rock painted and in place.

“There were over 150 rocks, and I got help placing maybe 30 of them. The rest I did myself,” said Russell. While she had help in other ways, it was discouraging to see months of hard work destroyed. “Why ‘those’ rocks? That’s why I got upset. If you want to make a sculpture like that, bring up your own rocks,” Russell said with a laugh.

However, with support and encouragement from 2Bears and the U of L Faculty of Fine Arts, Russell’s artwork should soon be back on display. Everyone is invited to play a part in an act of unity by joining Russell at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, June 20 at Fort Whoop Up to assist in reconstructing the symbol on the coulee.

Russell warns the terrain is steep and rough, with cactuses, and maybe snakes. Volunteers should come prepared for the elements including good shoes and proper clothing.

The LandMarks2017 exhibition, including Russell’s symbol of unity, are on display in Fort Whoop-up and across Indian Battle Park from June 20-27.

UNews - Jackson 2Bears

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