Artist Biographies
Maria-Margaretta
Maria-Margaretta Cabana Boucher is an interdisciplinary Red River Michif Artist from Treaty Six Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She has ancestral ties to the Métis communities of St-François-Xavier, St. Boniface, Manitoba and St. Louis, Saskatchewan. She is currently making and living on the stolen territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Səl̓ílwətaʔ, and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Nations. Maria-Margaretta holds a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art+Design and an MFA from OCAD University. Her practice is an exploration of the Michif self-archive, autobiographical beadwork and objects of the everyday. Using Métis identity as a place of transformation she questions how memory, personal experience, motherhood, and ancestral relations influence her understanding of self.
Kae Sasaki
Kae Sasaki (she/her) is a visual artist and Japanese-born settler living and working on Treaty One Territory, colonially known as Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Kae's studio practice is made possible on the ancestral lands of the Anishinaabeg, Ininew, Oji-Cree, and Dene Peoples, and on the homeland of the Red River Métis, with water from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation.
Kae grew up in Fukui, an hour away from Kyoto, with a slight detour in El Paso, Texas in her formative years. She graduated from Rikkyo University in Tokyo where she studied German literature as well as education and library science. After moving to Winnipeg she worked full-time in accounting and half-time grading exams and essays on campus while putting herself through School of Art at University of Manitoba, graduating with first class honours in 2012. Kae has taught drawing as a sessional instructor at University of Manitoba faculty of architecture while establishing a full-time studio practice.
Kae is a recipient of Alice Hamilton Painting Prize, Cecil C. Richards Memorial Award for achievement in figurative sculpture, Lynn Sissons Memorial Scholarship, and a public art commission
award from University of Manitoba Sculptural Experience competition. Her art practice has been generously supported by grants from Winnipeg Arts Council, Manitoba Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts, and her work can be found in private, public, and corporate collections in Canada and U.S.A. She has been shortlisted for the Kingston Prize (2015/2017/2019/2023), the Salt Spring National Art Prize (2017) and Jackson's Open Painting Prize (2018/2019).
Exhibition Statements
a memory of you, of holding, of carrying, together
"Daughter,
I made these works for you, my future ancestor. I created this document, these pieces, this Michif self-archive for you. So you wouldn’t have to search my name, dig deep for my stories. You could speak with confidence to who I was and what I loved. I created this work so you would know my stitch, you would recognize me by the way I placed my beads. You would never feel alone amongst beaded objects because you would know they are family, and you are home. I imagined you adorned and protected as you carried the knowledge of our ancestors in those same threads. I imagined you studying and learning from my designs and one day creating your own. Your fingers touching the surface of the fabric, memorizing the textures, the shapes, the tension of the threads. And as you learnt you remembered and taught the next generation how to look, how to remember too. I made these works so our ancestral ties would never break, past, current, and future ancestors could live in reciprocity together in the worlds we have created for one another. I made these works so you would know you belonged to me and I to you and through our shared lineage we would hold each other up in our remembering.
I imagined you as a great great granddaughter searching for my story, eased in knowing I loved you, as I reached out to you through our shared objects. In my wildest dreams I could not have imagined that you, my future ancestor, were already here with me. Growing inside me, breathing with me, becoming. That as I created these works I was also creating you. A trickster just like her mother hiding out of reach until you were ready to announce yourself. And with you came my world. With you came a clear understanding of the world I am building, the world I have rebuilt for you, Kiihtwaam ooshtaahk, rebuild little one. These works are my first gift to you, these words are my gift to you my daughter. Marsii, Miigwetch, thank you for collaborating on these works with me as we moved, felt, dreamt, learnt and remembered together. My little spirit bead, my gift from creator.
I love you
gi-zaagin
Ki shaakiihitin"
Gathering
"Gathering epitomizes my artistic journey, capturing the essence of community, memory, and the seamless integration of past and present. The title reflects the meticulous collection of vintage Japanese beads, each a relic from the 1940s to the 1970s, once integral to handmade beaded bags. These reclaimed materials now converge in my contemporary beadwork, forging a dialogue between traditional craftsmanship and modern artistic expression.
The concept of gathering extends beyond the physical accumulation of beads; it symbolizes the confluence of personal and collective narratives. My work constructs a visual language that honors the beads' origins while reimagining their potential in new forms. Each piece serves as a vessel, preserving the essence of the past while inviting future reinterpretations. This process breathes new life into these vintage materials, bridging the mundane and the symbolic, and transforming everyday experiences into rich, layered narratives.
As viewers engage with my beadwork, they are drawn into a realm where the familiar and the extraordinary coexist. The psychological dimensions of my creations, enriched with symbols and elements, deepen the narrative, fostering a multi-vocal engagement. This gathering of meanings and experiences mirrors my profound emotional connection to life's complexities, driving my exploration of perception, memory, and narrative in contemporary beadwork.
In Gathering, the collected beads and their stories coalesce, creating a space where past and present, tradition and innovation, individual and collective, converge. This exhibition invites viewers to immerse themselves in a world of layered meanings, where each bead, each piece, and each story contribute to a larger, ever-evolving tapestry.
Acknowledgments
Published ©2024 by the Centre for Craft Nova Scotia All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. All photography courtesy of the artist unless otherwise stated.