Micheal Belmore’s sculpture Resistant.

Resistant consists of a delicate interaction between a found stone and carved and hammered silver, which is supported by a scaffolding made of riveted steel.

Inspired by the history and architecture of NYC skyscrapers, this sculpture is supported by a tall and narrow riveted steel scaffold.

Belmore has carved the silver to precisely fit a found stone. The silver has been shaped and hammered to evoke the effect of a small stone in a river on the water flowing past.

This piece asks us to pause and reflect on the everyday beauty in what may seem to be a simple interaction. To consider the cascading effects that may begin with something that seems quite small.

Frank Shebageget, FREE RIDE.

Shebageget’s piece FREE RIDE is is comprised of vintage Canadian five dollar bills dating from the year of Shebageget’s birth to the present, with a maple frame engraved with the words FREE RIDE.

The works references Treaty #3, which has resulted in Shebageget receiving 50 years of annual annuities from the Crown in the sum of five dollars per year.

And further, that Her Majesty’s Commissioners shall, as soon as possible after the execution of this treaty, cause to be taken an accurate census of all the Indians inhabiting the tract above described, distributing them in families, and shall in every year ensuing the date hereof, at some period in each year to be duly notified to the Indians, and at a place or places to be appointed for that purpose within the territory ceded, pay to each Indian person the sum of five dollars per head yearly.

Grand Council Treaty #3

This particular work will be exhibited at Nordamerika Native Museum, Zürich Switzerland later this spring.

Artist Bios

Michael Belmore employs a variety of materials and processes that at times may seem disjointed, yet, the reality is that together his work and processes speak about the environment, about land, about water, and what it is to be Anishinaabe. A graduate of the Ontario College of Art & Design, he completed his Masters of Fine Art at the University of Ottawa in 2019.

Belmore’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in the permanent collections of various institutions and numerous private collections.

His exhibitions include: Every. Now. Then: Reframing Nationhood at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON, Shapeshifting: Transformations in Native American Art at the Peabody Essex in Salem, MA and HIDE: Skin as Material and Metaphor at the National Museum of the American Indian – George Gustav Heye Centre in New York.

Frank Shebageget’s sculpture and installation reflect an enduring interest in the geography of the Canadian Shield. His practice, which draws on the aesthetics of everyday materials, exploits the tense relationships between production, consumption and the economics of beauty, through the repetition of forms, labour-intensive processes, and the play between quasi-industrial and handcrafted methods.

Frank Shebageget (Ojibway) was born and raised in Upsala, a small town in northwestern Ontario, and currently resides in Ottawa. Shebageget graduated with his A.O.C.A. from the Ontario College of Art in 1996, and received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Victoria in 2000. He was inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts in 2016.