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Artist Statement:
Artist statement
i was born in Red Deer and
i have lived across Canada.
i am a mother,and
always a student.
i study my past,
so that,
i may better understand my
future.
i paint my family.
i feel that they
are as beautiful as this
land!
i try to paint them
as if, they were the same.
...
Further Information
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Artist Exhibitions:
The Arbor Room , Hart House
Toronto Ontario
Solo exhibit
November 2001
Justina Barnick
Feb 2000...
Further Information
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Artist Galleries:
Coming Soon!
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Collections:
Coming Soon!
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Reviews for Tannis Tannis:
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Metis artist mines family history for comfort and inspiration
Metis artist Tannis Nielsen went to the Metis Nation of Ontario,
full of talent and the will to work hard, looking for some
assistance. The result is a stunning portrait of her people through
the haunting renditions included in her first solo art show, Go
Home.
Nielsen worked solely from old family photographs,photocopied, scanned and e-mailed from her mother. She used these images to create the full-scale paintings that became part of Go Home held at the University of Toronto's Hart House throughout the months of October and November, closing just after Riel Day on the 16th. It is an exhibit that is very close to the artist herself. "The Metis-they are just beautiful people and I hope other people feel that too."
Born in Red Deer, Alberta, Tannis Nielsen has been working on
her art and her education in Toronto for the past 12 years-far
from her family and childhood memories out west. She recently completed a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Toronto.Nielsen has accomplished all this while caring for her young daughter Britney who, she claims, has helped push her to go back to school and do her best.
Tannis applied for and received a Metis Cultural Economic Development Grant that allowed her to complete her schooling
and finance the art show. She says that throughout the entire
process the MNO staff, and in particular Bonny Cann were a
great inspiration and support.
Nielsen found the art therapeutic as well as expressive. "Living in
Ontario and being so far away from my family in Saskatchewan and Alberta, I have all these photographs of my family that I look at all the time, because they are so many miles away. That's why I called the show Go Home, going into the canvas is kind of like going home."
Tannis' mother travelled from Edmonton to be with her daughter
on opening night. It took her 60 hours on a bus to make it on
time, but she wouldn't have missed it for the world.
To show her gratitude to Bonny and all the MNO staffers who
helped her achieve her dreams, Tannis donated one of her larger works, The Sash Event. It will hang in the reception area in the
Toronto Head Office where it will greet all visitors coming in
with a dream and the strength to reach for it.
written by Marc St.Germain
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contact artist
