Crystal Lee Clark | LandEscape

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Crystal Lee Clark, mihkwâpemak sîpîy, "Red Willow River flows through dreams as Martin bird sings us home," 2022

mixed media, 40x28”. Courtesy of the Gallery.

Reception: February 25, from 1:30-3:30 pm

In LandEscape, fringes of fancy dance shawls flow into the landscape, merging with earth, water and sky. Together they create a beautiful and otherworldly landscape, populated by stylized animals, plants and floating geometric shapes. Merging ceremony, rematriation, celebration and the land, Crystal Lee Clark’s work creates space for joy and connection, story and honouring the beauty of Indigenous culture.

Steeped in symbolism, the works are deeply inspired by both the land and her cultural identity. Clark is an emerging artist of nêhiyawak (Cree), Dene, and Métis heritage, currently living in Rocky Mountain House (Treaty 6). Originally hailing from Fort McMurray (Treaty 8), her work looks at the animals and plants, and the people who have crossed the landscape for generations, including those that lived along the mihkwâpemak sîpîy (Red Willow River/The Sturgeon River).

Her pieces are a stunning mix of both digital and physical art, seamlessly blending the best of both worlds. Inspired by imagination, observations and her photographs, the artist creates layers of colour and textures using digital and physical art making tools. Figures and land become inseparable as each new layers add movement and story. The final works are briming with vibrancy and life.

“Although we live in a digital world, we are rooted in our connection to and reliance on the natural world and all of its beauty,” says Crystal Lee Clark. “My artistic approach includes merging the real-life beauty of Indigenous cultural ways of being, knowing and doing with digital tools and imagery that transform the aesthetic into a mixed media visual celebration that stimulates the audience through connection, wonder, observation and conversation.”

In-Person Tour: Thursday March 9 at 12 pm

Virtual Tour: Wednesday March 1 at 12 pm

(Register online at artsandheritage.ca