Brittney Bear Hat and Richelle Bear Hat: Little Cree Women (Sisters, Secrets and Stories)

RBC New Works Gallery Art Gallery of Alberta March 5 - July 3 2016

Brittney Bear Hat, Lessons, 2015 Digital photograph and hand painted text Image courtesy the Artist

Cree thoughts on identity, family, home, and land‌ Little Cree Women (Sisters, Secrets & Stories) is about storytelling and sacred relationships. Brittney and Richelle’s art practice is shaped by their independent and shared identities.

Their relationships to each other and themselves, to their families and communities and to their lands and environments, have shaped their respective experiences. They were born and raised in Calgary, where they continue to live and work. Like many young adults, their identities have been influenced by urban, hiphop and popular cultures, yet they have always been connected to their Indigenous identity and cultural roots as Blackfoot and Cree women.

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As small children, after Brittney and Richelle’s mother passed away, their aunt took the lead in raising them. Their maternal family is from Siksika First Nation—far from their father’s home of Blueberry River First Nation. Siksika Nation is part of the Blackfoot Confederacy and Treaty Seven territory in southern Alberta. Historically, however, Blackfoot traditional territory included most of central and southern Alberta, reaching south into Montana and east into Saskatchewan. The Great Divide, North Saskatchewan River and Yellowstone River acted as natural boundaries to their territory. In the late 1800s, the Blackfoot were fiercely defending their territory against the encroachment of European settlers and were in territorial conflict with the Plains Cree. Eventually, the Blackfoot signed Treaty Seven in an attempt to resolve territorial claims and preserve their culture.

Richelle and Brittney were raised with a strong Blackfoot identity, proud of their maternal lineage and ancestral homelands on the plains and foothills. They remained curious, however, about their paternal Cree heritage. Though the times shared with their father as children was limited, they treasured those experiences, keeping their memories close to heart. This exhibition aims to acknowledge and honour their Cree heritage while respecting their Blackfoot ancestry.

Their father’s home is on Blueberry River First Nation, which is a member of the Treaty Eight Tribal Association. Treaty Eight spans the largest geographical area of any treaty area in Canada. It includes the northeastern range of the Rocky Mountains in British Columbia and into northern Alberta, the northwestern corner of Saskatchewan and a small southern portion of the North West Territories. Blueberry River First Nation is located in the Peace River Country of British Columbia. Its landscape is distinctive because of the thick bush, flowing rivers and mountains. It is home to diverse Indigenous populations such as the Sikanni, Slavey, Dunne-za, Saulteau and Cree peoples. Cree people have one of the largest Indigenous

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Brittney Bear Hat and Richelle Bear Hat, Little Cree Women (Sisters, Secrets & Stories) (detail), 2016 Installation, dimensions variable Image courtesy of the Artists

populations in Canada, and occupy diverse expanses of land.

This is a testament to the Cree peoples’ adaptability to thrive in varied geography, resulting in unique regional dialects, cultural practices and identities.

Brittney and Richelle’s father is a traditional Cree man who hunts and lives off the mountainous landscape, and is keen to share his knowledge with his daughters. Learning in the bush is a different experience than learning in a classroom or studio setting.

Traditionally, children would accompany their parents throughout the day, learning and observing their parents at work and around the home, acquiring necessary life skills through firsthand experience. If a parent had to be away, a grandparent or extended 3

family member would care for the children. Intergenerational relationships, knowledge and exchange are important to a healthy community. The Bear Hat sisters, despite their urban upbringing, have fond childhood memories of visiting their father’s cabin on Pink Mountain. They recall the important lessons learned from their father and kokum [grandmother] about the land, and experienced from the immense freedom of exploring the bush and fishing on the river with their cousins.

Richelle shares: … there was this time we went fishing with our dad, and we had been out a quite a few times, and we hadn’t had any luck yet catching our first fish, so finally he took us to this place where he went fishing as a kid. It was called “Billy’s fishing hole.”

Nobody knew who Billy was anymore but they all knew it as “Billy’s fishing hole.” So, when we finally caught some fish, our father was like, “you gotta be the ones to clean your own fish.”

So we were on a roll, and our cousins were with us, and I had gone to the vehicle to get the cooler that my dad had prepared for the fish, and he had also started a fire by the river, and he took out this pot to boil water. Then, he walked into the woods and said he would be right back… when he came back he had mint leaves, so we had wild mint tea… it’s just those moments that wasn’t about being Native or not, it was about doing stuff [and just being].

That’s what’s exciting about sharing these stories between the two of us, is getting each other’s perspectives…

These kinds of experiences develop self-confidence and selfreliance in children, which is important to one’s development into adulthood. Experiences such as these teach survival skills, independence and accountability to oneself and to each other. Though one can learn these lessons theoretically by 4

Brittney Bear Hat, Remember, 2014 Mixed media, print on paper with toy figurine Image courtesy the Artist

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Brittney Bear Hat, Liberty, 2012 Mixed media Image courtesy the Artist

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reading and studying books, it is real life experience that is the greatest teacher.

On occasion, the Bear Hat sisters have accompanied their father hunting and fishing in his home territory—activities they enjoy to this day. Bush living cultivates close family bonds and a reverence for the land, especially if your father is a hunter. Practical clothing, sturdy footwear and rifles are a must when hunting. Having the skills to ride a horse and drive a quad is also needed. Brittney excitedly shares their experiences: …our father has always expressed that you just go out and do it, you don’t ask for permission… I remember this one time, after we had come back from the river, I had gone to see my dad, and he was bringing two horses back to the corral on the reserve… I asked him what he was doing… I was about seven at the time… Then he asked if I wanted to ride one… I had never rode one before so, I asked if it was safe, and he said, “Yeah, it’s safe”… then he plops me on one of them, no saddle, and we’re just walking along and I’m really frightened, and then the horse gets startled and jumps up and I held on…

My dad’s just laughing... he said, “It’s alright, you did it right, you didn’t fall off.” He just pushes us to our edge…

Another story is when we were quadding… it was really important to him for us to learn how to ride and work these machines without being too careless… so this one day Richelle and I are on one quad, and he is ahead of us on another one, and we come up to this hill, and we didn’t realize how steep it was until we got on it, and our dad was like, “Make sure you’re leaning with the hill.” But we got freaked out and started going slower, and our dad was like, “No, no, don’t slow down!” and “You just have to drive through it!” We were scared, thinking we’re going to fall, and our dad is just laughing… and he just pushes us through it, and we get to the other side 7

Brittney Bear Hat and Richelle Bear Hat Image courtesy of the Bear Hat family archive

Richelle Bear Hat, our time, 2012 Photographic print Image courtesy the Artist

and we realize it wasn’t that bad, and we’re all excited… it shows a lot about how he was taught… and our kokum was the same way… he’s not going to do it for us, we’re just going to have to feel it out, and learn that way…

As it turns out this is the way I learn.

I have to do it, to fully understand what it is I am doing.

Stealthy movement and quiet observation is necessary when tracking an animal.

As a hunter, one learns to look for signs: the quality of the air, the surrounding sounds, the subtle disturbances in the environment, the seasonal foliage. Brittney comments on her experience hunting and fishing with her father and Uncle Guy: It requires a different part of ourselves in learning. To go outside, to go make a fire, you need to bring a gun with you, ‘cause you never know… we’re in the deep forest at Pink Mountain. But here on Siksika, if you go out, you make sure

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Brittney Bear Hat and Richelle Bear Hat Image courtesy of the Bear Hat family archive

you’re wearing your Nikes. When I’m up north, it’s so familiar, but all completely new to me. You need to make sure you are wearing good jeans, and boots, and socks… it requires a different way of thinking.

When we’re up there, we went fishing with my Uncle Guy and my dad. We’re in the bush, and while we’re walking, it’s like they’re walking on a clear cut path, but Richelle and I are tripping everywhere, and our dad’s like, “Make sure you’re watching where you’re walking”…

While we were fishing, we heard a branch break, and our father said in a real stern voice, “Girls, get your things” and him and Guy knew what to do right away, dad in the front and Guy in the back, and we walked in a line—and we all had to have our 11

safeties off of our guns, and we all had guns—and as quietly, and as fast as we could, without running, walked back to the quads. It was so telling of how my dad grew up… how he could be so laid back, shoot the shit, then get so serious and know exactly what to do.

I think, seeing that, that spoke to me a lot more because I wanted to be more like that. I want to share that kind of knowledge with him.

According to their aunt, a certain white flower is a positive sign when hunting moose. Richelle shares: … growing up we didn’t feel close to our Cree heritage, but as we get older it has always been there, in practical ways, all while we were growing up… and it’s this practicality and those moments that are empowering now, and knowing that we now have them within ourselves and abilities… and about this flower, our aunt shared, if you shake this specific flower and the petals don’t fall off, you’re still in the timeline to hunt moose, but once those petals fall then it’s past the time, and you have to wait to next year…

So there are all these little tidbits, and we want to honour those lessons, and share them, and somehow to get across that feeling of trust, that something is being passed onto us… that we’re ready to receive this knowledge…

Details, like the flower, are significant visual cues about their relationship with their family and the land. After a successful hunt, proper butchering and skinning of the animal is necessary, including smoking the meat, tanning and scraping the hide and preparing a feast. All parts of the animal are used. Like many contemporary Indigenous artists who employ traditional practices in their work, Brittney and Richelle refer to these processes in theirs. The works in the exhibition acknowledge 12

these fine skills, paying special attention to the role of women, especially their kokum, in these practices.

Storytelling is an essential part of Cree culture, and Brittney and Richelle carry this tradition into their exhibition. In talking with them it is obvious that they enjoy sharing stories with each other about their childhood memories and experiences.

The texts and ephemera presented in the exhibition are simple and direct, delivered with care and sensitivity. Ephemera in the exhibition include: dried mint leaves and other significant dried plant matter (like wild blueberries), charcoal, willow branches (that refer to handmade sling shots), birch bark and braids of their own hair. Each item speaks to different stories and memories.

Brian Jungen has been an important role model to the Bear Hat sisters too. They met Jungen in 2013 during the Woodland School: What colour is the present? creative residency at The Banff Centre, led by artist Duane Linklater. Jungen was the first of many invited guests to be a part of the residency, which both Bear Hat sisters attended. This is a significant detail because Jungen is of Dunne-za ancestry, and shares the same home territory with the sisters in Peace River Country. He is also a prominent Indigenous contemporary artist and hunter. Brittney comments on her relationship with Brian, storytelling and her Cree identity: Brian Jungen helped me realize that these stories do make us Native… they also just share culture in and of itself… I am most intrigued by bringing that culture into a setting that you wouldn’t normally see it in [such as a gallery]. For me, I want to have a conversation about the things I was learning about and the stories that I wanted to tell, and the truth that I was starting to come across in my path of trying to understand what my identity means… and knowing a lot of people in Alberta, whether Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal 13

have these same experiences too. I just want to give the opportunity to share them from our family’s perspective and histories.

I’m really glad I got to meet Brian and share a little bit with him‌ Richelle offers these thoughts on her Indigenous identity: For so long we were asking questions, and [trying to] negotiate where we fit in, and there was this question about how much of myself can I claim as Indigenous, as Native and what right do I have to that part of myself and culture, when I am not surrounded or immersed in it all the time? And, I think the biggest thing that was so comforting and empowering is learning that we do have a right to it. We can just take it. We can just be in it. We already are, there is no division.

It was such a simple concept to our father and our family, and to actually say it to our selves, and to share that with our family in Alberta, [that was liberating]. The show is about how quiet and revealing these lessons can be, but still impactful. The lessons stick with us as we age.

The lessons and texts found in the exhibition are more suggestive than explicit. When working with personal, familial and cultural narratives, there is a fine balance between treating all people and practices involved with honour and respect, and being mindful not to exploit anyone or anything in the process. As such, these artists give attention to offering just enough information to create their prose and offering ample space for quiet pause and reflection. In a way, this exhibition is a love poem to their home on Blueberry River First Nation. The select words and phrases found throughout the exhibition are love letters to their family, noting significant events and lessons learned with these people, especially their father, on the land. The artworks celebrate 14

Brittney and Richelle’s culture, and a desire to share its richness with others. Little Cree Women (Sisters, Secrets & Stories) is about relationships, identity, storytelling and taking the time to listen and learn from the land.

Angela Marie Schenstead

References Bear Hat, Brittney, and Bear Hat, Richelle. “Interview for Little Cree Women” Online interview. Skype. 18 Dec. 2015.

Cree Hunters of Mistassini. Dir. Boyce Richardson and Ianzelo Tony. National Film Board of Canada, 1974. Film (57 min 55 s).

NFB.ca. Web. 10 Jan. 2016. https://www.nfb.ca/film/cree_ hunters.

Dempsey, Hugh A. “Treaty Research Report - Treaty Seven (1877).” Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. 1987. Web. 10 Jan. 2016. https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100028789/1100100 028791.

Jenish, D’Arcy. Indian Fall: The Last Great Days of the Plains Cree and the Blackfoot Confederacy. Toronto: Viking, 1999. Print.

Tousley, Nancy. “Brian Jungen & Duane Linklater: Hunting Retreat.” Canadian Art Brian Jungen Duane Linklater Hunting Retreat. 16 Aug. 2012. Web. 10 Jan. 2016. http://canadianart.ca/ features/brian-jungen-duane-linklater-hunting-retreat.

“Treaty 8 Tribal Association – United First Nations: Strong, Proud, and Free.” Treaty 8 Tribal Association. Web. 10 Jan. 2016. http://treaty8.bc.ca.

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Artists’ Biographies Brittney Bear Hat is a graduate from the Alberta College of Art and Design in 2011, where she majored in painting with an interest in collage and drawing. Based in Calgary, her work focuses on identity and belonging. Half Blackfoot and half Cree, Bear Hat makes work about memory and how her personal history is what makes her Native. Her work involves the process of taking her own family photos or personal items and combining them with text, retelling stories and memories.

With each piece, Bear Hat is trying to figure out what is hers and what she can call home.

Richelle Bear Hat is a Calgary based First Nations artist with both Blackfoot and Cree heritage. She graduated from the Alberta College of Art and Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing in 2011. Her practice investigates ideas surrounding family relationships and the types of knowledge that are capable of being passed through them. These ideas are explored through the use of photography, transfers, video and paper based works. It is important to use materials and means of production that support the transference of memory and provide a platform for storytelling.

Writer’s Biography Angela Marie Schenstead is an artist and writer, originally from Saskatchewan, and a member of One Arrow First Nation. She earned a Fine Art Diploma from Grant MacEwan University, Edmonton and a Bachelor of Fine Art in Ceramics from Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary. She has been a resident artist at Medalta, Medicine Hat in 2007, Bruno Arts Bank, Bruno in 2011 and Common Opulence, Demmitt in 2015. Her artwork can be found between the pages of kimiwan ‘zine and she has written essays for Contemporary Calgary and Studio Magazine. In 2012, she was included in the group exhibition Indigeneity, The Works Festival, Edmonton and independently curated FIRE which featured works by Brenda Draney and Jewel Shaw, Stride Gallery, Calgary. Based in Banff, she has been a team member of the Visual + Digital Arts department at The Banff Centre.

List of Works Little Cree Women (Sisters, Secrets & Stories), 2016 Installation Dimensions variable Courtesy of the Artists Brittney Bear Hat & Richelle Bear Hat: Little Cree Women (Sisters, Secrets & Stories) is curated by Kristy Trinier.

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The RBC New Works Gallery features new works by Alberta artists.

Initiated in 1998 and named the RBC New Works Gallery in 2008, this gallery space continues the Art Gallery of Alberta’s commitment to supporting Alberta artists.

Š Art Gallery of Alberta 2016 ISBN: 978-1-77179-015-4 Editor: Catherine Crowston Design: Cut+Paste Design Inc. and Charles Cousins Photography: Courtesy the artists and the Bear Hat family archive Essay: Angela Marie Schenstead Printing: Burke Group Printed in Canada

The Art Gallery of Alberta is grateful for the generous support of our many public and private donors and sponsors, as well as the ongoing support of the City of Edmonton, the Edmonton Arts Council, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Cover Image: Sisters #1, 2015 Image courtesy of the Bear Hat family archive