Judy Anderson and Katherine Boyer — mâmawohkamâtowak

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Katherine Boyer, “Meet you Across the Medicine Line,” 2020, detail, seed beads on stroud cloth, cedar and fir 2x4s, cord (photo by Andy Nichols, courtesy of Nickle Galleries)

Copper jingle cones, beaded blue skies and prairie pelts are but a few elements found in mâmawohkamâtowak: Judy Anderson and Katherine Boyer. The exhibition is on view at Nickle Galleries until December 14. 

Curated by Jessie Ray Short, the exhibition evolves into a conversation between two flatland artists who draw on the rich legacy of beading and other crafts such as woodworking, rug hooking, and stitching to explore Indigenous identity, relationality, and decolonial strategies through their creative practices.

At the heart of the exhibition is kinship — an idea rooted in deep, reciprocal relationships that extend beyond family ties. The show’s title, mâmawohkamâtowak, is a Cree word meaning cooperation or, “they assemble themselves to help one another,” which sets the tone for the collaborative spirit, cultural connections, and the artists’ long-standing friendship that permeates the show.

Entering the dimly lit gallery space, the works captivate the senses with beautiful configurations of materials like wood, metal, stones, textiles, and seed beads using processes like sewing, metalsmithing, and woodworking. Purposely adorned with decorative elements or human personifications, the works draw on the narrative power of objects to tell stories about self, healing, community, traditions, and place.

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Judy Anderson, “Exploit Robe (Going Pro),” 2022, detail, size 10 Czech beads, traditionally tanned moose hide (photo by Andy Nichols, courtesy of Nickle Galleries)

For example, two new installation pieces with wearable components, briefly merge and interact during a collaborative performance on opening night. In both pieces, The Tree Line (Boyer) and In Plain Sight (Anderson), the artists embody their intricately decorated art objects (i.e. beaded chaps and cyanotype linen shirt; beaded shirt, bowler hat, and chest plate) by adorning themselves temporarily. In this context, ornamentation is activated within colonized spaces to challenge artificial hierarchies between craft and high art.

Anderson, a Nêhiyaw (Cree) artist from Gordon First Nation, uses beadwork, installation, and collaborative projects to explore themes of spirituality, family, and Indigenous knowledge systems. Her work often honors the people in her life while examining the lasting impacts of colonialism. Boyer, a Métis/Settler artist, similarly uses her multidisciplinary practice, incorporating textiles, beading, and carpentry, to explore her connections to queer identity, her ancestorial roots, and the land.

The artists first met in 2012 at First Nations University where Anderson taught Boyer to bead. Bound by the power of beading, this shared interest would evolve and culminate in Bead Talk: Indigenous Knowledge and Aesthetics from the Flatlands, a seminal book showcasing the significance of beading in contemporary Indigenous arts. 

Similarly, this collaborative exhibition explores how both beading and other cultural crafts embody reciprocity, respect, and storytelling; and how other hands, voices, and knowledge can reverberate through artworks that both respect and evolve these traditions.

For example, inspired by the sound of a jingle dress, Anderson created the sculpture, “As she walked down the hallway, she unintentionally … Indigenized.” The abstract shape, connecting seven-tiered rings, is covered in smoked moose hide and hand-crafted copper jingles.  Resembling a chandelier or a dress, the sculpture’s shape, jingle sounds, and smell evoke the hoop dance and the thunderbird formation as its monumental shadows stretch across the floor on either side. 

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Katherine Boyer, “The Tree Line,” 2024, seed beads on smoked moosehide 2x4s, poplar and birch plywood, cyanotype linen, bulldog cotton twill, hand-dyed wool, tree tags (photo by Andy Nichols, courtesy of Nickle Galleries)

Fur pelts, beading, and copper elements emerge in other works like Exploit Robe (Going Pro) where she beads a graffiti tag created by her son Cruz, or in a beautiful series of nine hung pelts, ranging from bear, fox, and otter, each named to honour people in her life.

Nearby the jingle piece is Boyer’s sculpture, Meet you Across the Medicine Line, which hangs like a swing from the rafters, a wooden horizon line cradled by straps and beaded to resemble a prairie blue sky with puffy clouds. Across the gallery space are three textile works from a sculptural installation entitled Water Meets Body. Styled after traditional Métis wall pockets, Pockets to Hold: Penitence and Resistance, emphasizes Métis women’s creativity, cultural traditions, and resistance to the negativity and oppression of Catholicism. 

Through this collaborative exhibition, Anderson and Boyer engage in a broader conversation about the evolving nature of Indigenous art, drawing on the power of kinship and storytelling to share compelling works that speak to resilience, beauty, and transcendence. ■

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