The Transformed Feather

Her academic achievements include a B.Sc. in Microbiology from the University of Alberta, a B.F.A. in print and design at Yale University, and an M.F.A. in Printmaking from Columbia University in New York City. Over the past l0 years her work has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in commercial galleries, public galleries and museums in the United States, Canada and around the world. Her work is included in public, corporate and private collections. Public collections include the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Columbia University, New York; Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Quebec; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Vancouver Art Gallery; McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario; and the National Gallery, Ottawa. Jane Ash Poitras currently lives and works in Alberta.

Transformed Feather is composed of a combination of watercolour and collage on paper. The artist collected found objects, personal photographs, and childlike drawings, and glued them to the painting, achieving a deceptively naive, unsophisticated aesthetic. She describes her style as “deconstructive, spiritual, political, non-political. It’s a little bit of everything, like chicken soup.” The energetic application of colourful paint, loose drawing style and glyphic writing have the air of being spontaneous and unaffected, yet are rich with symbolism and meaning. According to Pamela McCallum, author of “Cultural Memories and Imagined Futures: The Art of Jane Ash Poitras”, the artist “combines representational strategies of postmodern art — collage, layering, overpainting, incorporation of found objects — with a deep commitment to the politics and issues common to indigenous peoples.” This artwork uses aboriginal imagery with personal and spiritual significance to evoke an obscure narrative. A feather in the center of the painting is surrounded by a triangular shape representing a teepee. Below it is a shaman figure, suggesting a spiritual transformation or ritual. Plains Cree syllabics are scrawled loosely, scratching into the surface of the paint, like a verse or incantation. As in the rest of her body of work, she is a storyteller, and her art combines disparate ideas and images to express the artist’s unique worldview.