Kim Gullion Stewart

Métis Artist

I create, teach and mentor out on the land and in my temporary studio in
Treaty 6 and 8 areas, homeland to Cree, Dene, and Métis.

A Métis Visual Artist:

Cultural history is so important to me that it is a part of everything I do. I was born in Athabasca, Alberta, Canada making me the 5th generation in my father’s family to live in that place. My father, Ken Gullion’s Métis heritage connects me to the Métis Homeland of Red River with family names Brabant, Brazeau, and to Métis and Cree communities in Alberta through the family name Nipissing. My great grandmother, Margaretta Brazeau received ‘Halfbreed land scrip’ as did her son, my great grandfather, Franklin Gullion. Land scrip was issued to Métis people in Canada in late 1800’s to early 1900’s as an attempt to extinguishing their land rights. In addition to his Métis ancestry, my father’s settler-ancestry reaches back to Scotland with family name, Gullion, and Poland with family name, Yaromy. My mother, Loretta Gullion comes from Berezan, Kozniuk settler families from the Ukraine who brought their rich cultural practices with them, marking the changes in their agricultural seasons with food, celebration and beautifully decorated art forms.

Artists and Artisans in my Family...

• Kevin Gullion (brother) - woodworker, designing and building custom electric guitars at http://tnvguitars.com/
• Loretta Gullion (mother) - painter, ceramicist, and surface decorator who taught her unique pattern and glazing techniques in our family-run ceramic studio.
• Mary Berezan (grandmother) - seamstress, potter, and clay sculptor who dug her clay from the banks of the Athabasca River.
• Carrie Gullion (grandmother) - worked with textiles, designing and sewing decorative pillows and dolls.
• Anna Berezan (great grandmother) who painted intricate Pysanky - patterned eggs (wax-batik method) and embroidered cultural designs on pillows, blouses and aprons.
• George Gullion (great, great grandfather) - a boatbuilder who built York Boats for the Hudson’s Bay Company.

Art Practice and Research Interests:

I am interested in creating metaphorical meaning by connecting Métis cultural art forms (hide tanning, beading, caribou hair tufting) with contemporary art forms. In my art practice I search to uncover the depths of my Métis identity, with a goal to understand Métis knowledge systems that have been hidden, lost, or adapted as a survival mechanism.

Education and Experience:

Post-Secondary Art Education
Master's Degree in Art Education (SFU, 2011)
Instruction and Curriculum Design, (VVC, 2005),
Associate Degree in Illustration and Graphic Design (Capilano University, 1990),
Associate Degree in Fine Art (Grant MacEwan University, 1984).

Indigenous Art Education
Beadworking -Alberta TwentyStands (Cheyenne) and Lynette LaFontaine (Métis),
Hide tanning with Lucy and Shirley Bock (Carrier), Mary Ghostkeeper (Métis), and Gertie Regan (Métis)
Weaving, drum making, quillwork, caribou hair tufting with Brenda Crabtree (Nlaka'pamux / Sto:lo)
Caribou hair tufting with Jean Walker (Métis).

Selected Achievements:

• 2023 - Podcast, guest speaker: Métis Speaker Series, with Darian Kovacs.
• 2022 - Art Acquisition: Canada Post, Truth and Reconciliation postage stamp design.
• 2022 - Art Acquisition: Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois. Beaded vintage novel cover - Halfbreed Deputy.
• 2021 - Finalist: Saltspring Island National Art Award.
• 2020 - Art Acquisition: by the Indigenous Art Centre Collection, Gatineau, Quebec. Beaded vintage map piece - They Make a Well Beaten Path,
• 2019 - Grant: Canada Council of the Arts.
• 2018 - Artist in Residence: Emily Carr University.
• 2018 - Solo show: INJUN-uity: or Growing up Pop, Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George, BC.
• 2018 - Feature: in Creative BC article - by Ryan Stuart, British Columbia Magazine, summer issue.
• 2018 - Cover Art and Feature: in Thimbleberry, Art and Culture in BC magazine - by George Harris, Volume 2, Winter 2018.
• 2017 - Artist in Residence: Emily Carr University.
• 2017 - Art Acquisition: Daito Bunka University Art Collection, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan - Pine Beetle piece,
• 2016 - Solo show: A Thread Runs Through it, Atrium Art Gallery, North Vancouver, BC.
• 2016 - Group show: Voices, Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George, BC.
• 2016 - Grant: Canada Council of the Arts.
• 2015 - Artist in Residence: Leighton Artist Colony, Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta.
• 2015 - Group show: North, Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George, BC.
• 2015 - Group show: Pushing Boundaries, NVCAC, North Vancouver, BC.
• 2014 - Group show: Rotundra Gallery, UNBC, Prince George, BC.
• 2012 - Group show: First, Two Rivers Gallery, Prince George, BC.
• 2010 - Art Acquisition: by Coca Cola, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Diadem - painted 8ft art bottle lamp.
• 2010 - Group show: Diadem (art bottle lamp), Olympics - Coca Cola Pavillion, Vancouver, BC.
• 2009 - Group show: Flux, Two Rivers Art Gallery, Prince George, BC.

 
For me, art is a way of communicating, of sharing the images that are in my mind.
— Kim