Biography of aboriginal artists saskatchewan
Biography
Leah Marie Dorion is available through special request to do keynote speaking for your event, conference, or professional development activities. Leah enjoys speaking on diverse topics centered around art education, creative writing, poetry and illustrating, Metis storytelling, holistic learning, Metis culture and history, Indigenous philosophy and worldview, earth based spirituality, women’s teachings, environmental stewardship, healing and empowerment, and self-development for girls and women. She is a proud member of the Canadian Artists' Representation /Le Front des artistes canadiens (CARFAC) and the Saskatchewan Writer’s Guild (SWG). |
Leah is currently working on:
1. Art Commission for the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health in Ottawa, Ontario for their Fundraiser Gala.
2. Art Commission for the Canadian Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
3. Illustrating “My First Lobstick” a children’s book to be published by the Gabriel Dumont Institute in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
4. ArtsSmarts School Mural Project with James L. Alexander School in Saskatoon.
I believe our current educational system as a whole requires major reconstruction in order to meet the needs of First Nations and Metis children along with their families. We need to apply a healing plan model and implement a culturally appropriate educational system to make meaningful learning occur. Education is a part of a larger social web and it seems like it is one of slowest institutions to adapt to changing realities. Aboriginal people have so much to offer the educational renewal conversation. Although our collective history is full of traumas, betrayals, and injustices we have survived, now, we need to contemplate ways to thrive once again by reflecting upon our core principles of traditional learning and how these core teachings relate to or directly conflict with our current colonial educational models we have inherited.
-Leah Marie Dorion, Metis Educator and Artist
North Saskatchewan River
Eight Career Highlights
Awarded an Art Commission with the Society of Canadian Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) for the art work Givers of Life featured on a poster for their international women’s health division.
The selection of my art work Circles of Care for the Aboriginal Storytelling month (February) poster produced by Library Services for Saskatchewan Aboriginal Peoples (LLSAP).
Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health in Ottawa created a massive stage backdrop featuring the design from my art work Wahkotowin at their gala fundraiser.
Hugh Cairns School in Saskatoon received an ArtsSmarts grant to make an art mural project based on TheGiving Tree story. It was my first experience working with over students and staff who all contributed to the design and completion of the final mural.
Workshop presenter at the Literacy for Life conference hosted by the Saskatoon Public School Division during the same year Justin Trudeau was the keynote speaker.
Awarded an arts grant through the Saskatchewan Arts Board to restore the Metis voyageur lobstick pole art form back into our community.
My art work The Three Life Sustainers was purchased by the Saskatchewan Arts Board Provincial Art Collection.
The Allan Sapp Gallery in North Battleford accepted several illustrations from The Giving Tree and Relatives with Roots children’s books into their permanent collection. The gallery curated the illustrations and then proceeded to host an art show in which local school children got to view the original art works.
I have the heart of a storyteller and will use various forms of artistic expression to share stories. For me, art is a spiritual expression and my paintings are influenced by traditional cultural teachings such as the medicine wheel and the sacred circle of life. I find that balance and harmony along with the four sacred elements of life (earth, air, fire, and water) are foundational aspects of my work. My paintings show the great interrelatedness of all things in creation. My paintings are tactile, and I often use various mediums that help add dimension and depth to my art, such as beads, birch bark, river rock, and shells. It is important for me to incorporate elements of Indigenous beadwork to honour my First Nations and Metis women ancestors, but I bring them into a contemporary form.