Exhibitions —

Faye HeavyShield’s work is situated in the land, attuned to the textures of rivers, coulees, and prairies of her home in southern Alberta. Drawing, sculpture, and photography meet among everyday materials like paper, cloth, tape, and cardboard; the artist transforms these with presence and an eye towards simplicity. Often using the formal constraints of grids and spare geometries, HeavyShield’s “minimalism” is more so an essential consequence of being in and honoring place, breath, and life, rather than adherence to an art historical tradition. For HeavyShield, art and self are inherently enmeshed.

The gallery’s presentation marks HeavyShield’s debut in Chicago, following important exhibitions in the Midwest over the past five years and four decades of exhibiting across Canada. She is one of the most significant artists of her generation.

Faye HeavyShield (b. 1953, Blood 148, Canada) is a member of the Blackfoot Confederacy from the Kainai (Blood) First Nation. She studied at the Alberta College of Art and Design and the University of Calgary, Alberta.

HeavyShield has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions internationally since the 1980s. Recent solo exhibitions include Issokawo'taan, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON; Confluences, Pulitzer Art Foundation, Saint Louis, MO; the retrospective The Art of Faye HeavyShield, organized by the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, SK (toured to Nickle Galleries, Calgary, AB: Carleton University Art Galleries, Ottawa, ON; and Winnipeg Art Gallery, AB); Clan, Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, AB; Calling Stones (Conversations), Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB; rock paper river, Gallery Connexion, Fredericton, NB; kuto’iis (blood), Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge, AB; and Into the Garden of Angels, The Power Plant, Toronto, ON, among many others.

Significant group exhibitions include Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry, Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE; Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN; III: HeavyShield, Knowles, Cameron-Weir, Remai Modern, Saskatoon, SK; Close Encounters: The Next 500 Years, Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg, MB; Nations in Urban Landscapes, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC; and Land, Spirit, Power, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON.

She is the recipient of an Eiteljorg Native American Contemporary Art Fellowship, and in 2021, received both the Gershon Iskowitz Prize for contributions to Canadian art and the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award.
HeavyShield’s work can be found in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Forge Project, the Alberta Foundation of Art, the Eiteljorg Museum of Native American Art and Western Art, the Glenbow Museum, the Heard Museum, the Kelowna Art Gallery, and the MacKenzie Art Gallery.