Award allows curator to complete project

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Four Aboriginal people are happy to be the recipients of the Paul D. Fleck Fellowship in the Arts awards because it will help them to further their work.

The Fleck Fellowship is offered by Alberta's Banff Centre and the talented four are among 15 recipients who will enjoy a creative residency at the centre, exploring and researching in their respective areas of endeavor.

Among the four is Lee-Ann Martin of Ottawa. "It's a wonderful opportunity for me professionally to work at the Banff Centre and with the Aboriginal Arts Program," said the curator. "It will give me an excellent opportunity to work on several projects, including an international exhibition of Aboriginal art. I can do the research and develop the various funding structures that are required to accomplish these undertakings," she said.

Martin is currently working on an exhibition entitled Mapping Our Territories which will feature the work of four Alberta Aboriginal artists at the Walter Phillips Gallery in the Banff Centre. The exhibition will be held at the same time in August at the World Indigenous Peoples Conference on Education at nearby Morley. She is also working on an exhibition of Aboriginal art scheduled to begin an international tour in 2005.

"I'm working with three other Aboriginal curators-all women-from Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S.A., to organize this exciting show," she said. The Banff Centre has already committed to a residency in the fall of 2003 for the artists who will be involved in this exhibition, so it's all part of a huge project, she said. Entitled Jesus Loves Me, This I Know, the international exhibition will reflect the artists' viewpoint on how Christianity has affected the Aboriginal Peoples of the world. "There will be both pros and cons. We have to look at all sides," she said.

During her residency at the centre, Martin will also be involved in other exhibitions, bringing in guest curators who are looking at other themes, and the organization of these events will take up a large part of her time. Altogether, her work will spread over two or three years.

"Then we'll see where it goes from there," she said.

Martin especially enjoys the multi-disciplinary aspect of her residency at the Banff Centre. "You have visual artists, musicians, theatre people, writers. The creativity is very energizing," she said. The centre is also very helpful in providing resources, such as research assistance.

Martin's family is from the Mohawk community of Tyendinaga. She lived for 11 years in the United States, where she completed a bachelor's degree in art and anthropology from the University of Maine. She later attended university in Toronto, earning her master's degree in museum studies.

The future of Aboriginal art is exciting, she said.

"A lot of pioneer artists have broken many barriers, creating a fertile base for artists to develop their personal styles, looking at their own identities and histories. It's very exciting and healthy and the maturity of the arts today promises a great future which can't be ignored any longer," she said.

Also granted residencies within the Fleck Fellowship program were the co-founders of the Spiderwoman Theater in New York. Muriel Miguel, a choreographer and dancer, Lisa Mayo, an actor and singer, and actor Gloria Miguel have a long history of individual accomplishment in addition to their combined efforts.

Marrie Mumford, artistic director of the Aboriginal Arts Programs at the Banff Centre sums it up.

"These three created Spiderwoman Theater, the longest-running Native theatre in the world, and they celebrated their 25th anniversary last year," she said.

During their residency in Banff in February, they created the Persistence of Memory, a multi-media theatre production.

"We were honored with their presence. They brought New York theatre to the centre," she said. They also went out to do workshops with Nakoda high school students in nearby Morley, sharing what they ha been given through the Fleck Fellowship.

The fellowships provide senior artists with resources and a creative environment at the centre to create their new work, she explained.