Margaret Boyle

ARTIST STATEMENT 

This artwork, a logo created from a hand painted stencil print, represents the iconography of the garden metaphor in relation to our world and the state it is in. The image represents seeds of change and paths of interconnectedness that healthy vibrant Arts communities create. The seed of the milkweed mirrors the egg of the Monarch butterfly. The flight paths from here to the center of the Americas in Mayan territory and back to here in Anishinabeg unceded territory,  are represented with arrows.  The colours represent (Blue) that we all live under the same sky and (Green) that when we plant seeds, water and nurture them, they grow. At the conference, Gardening, the Arts persons who come, will join together to plant seeds of shared vision, respect for diversity and will amplify each other's artistic wellbeing by sharing, networking and learning in the same space for a day! Mèmèmgwe - Mimiges  is a teaching that means a lot to me, as my Paige had me sew them on her first regalia back about 16 years ago when she danced jingle dress for the first time, at age six. The butterfly reminds us that we each are brought forth in this life, with all our gifts inside of us, all our potential ready to be manifested and that seeds of our adult selves are inside each of us. We will grow and transform as we learn and live in community and we will fly forth;  if we are nourished and encouraged, to do the good work that we are meant to do. This is the layering of symbolism in the image I created from sketches I made in the fall after discussions that I and Alex Maltby, the organizer of @creative.continuum.conference who is program manager @artsnetottawa and I had on the phone. I hope that the event will create a caring space where diversity and layers of creativity and wellness are shared! Our planet needs artists who are willing to go where they are needed, who express hard truths that our nations and our communities need to face, and who have creative ways of thinking that can unify humanity for our children’s children's sake. Msit No’kmaw 

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Marg Boyle is eagle clan;  Métisse from Gaspe/Gaspesie/Gespeg and is of L’nu, European settler and African descent. She honors all of her ancestors in the art and community work that she does. She has been a professional artist, art educator, and curator for thirty five years. She is a graduate of the University of NSCAD  (BFA Fine Arts and BFA Art Education) and has also done graduate and inservice courses in Art Education, Indigenous Studies, and Indigenous Education.

Her artwork incorporates traditional Indigenous methods such as; drum making, rattle making, quillwork, beading, sewing, basketry, moose tufting and birch bark work. Her artwork utilizes; contemporary art media such as painting, installation, printmaking, drawing and use of text. Her work has been exhibited in varied galleries; as well as in the Museum of Technology in Ottawa and at the Ornans 4 Vents Festival in France.

Marg is the founder of FNMIEAO, the provincial subject association for Indigenous education in Ontario. She started The Eagle and Condor Collective in 2017. Marg is now a full time artist, who is also a community arts activist, a drummer, artistic event organizer and a writer. She has been teaching at the Ottawa School of Art  for over fourteen years, taught high school for thirty years and has taught Art Education and Indigenous Education courses at Queens U, U of Ottawa and OISE/ U of Toronto. She is committed to ensuring that authentic Indigenous perspectives are shared in the settings she works in.

Marg’s artwork focuses on her perspective as a woman, grandmother, educator and healer in negotiating the reality of being from mixed ancestry in a country and art community that still is in need of decolonization and safe creative spaces. Her current series are; We Dream in Circles, Circles of Life, The Nest and Home and they all relate to traditional Indigenous Knowledge, spirituality, familial memory and contemporary realities expressed through her artistic voice and her life experience.

Visit margboyle.com or eagleandcondorcollective.com for more info. about her artwork.