Adrian Stimson

Adrian Stimson (born 1964 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada){{Cite web|url=http://www.sknac.ca/index.php?page=ArtistDetail&id=162|title=Saskatchewan NAC Artists {{!}} Adrian Stimson|last=Squareflo.com|website=www.sknac.ca|access-date=2019-11-04}} is an artist and a member of the Siksika Nation.{{Cite news|last=Nerman|first=Danielle|date=Nov 25, 2016|title=Alberta's gender-bending 'Buffalo Boy' sells bison painting to British Museum {{!}} CBC News|language=en-US|work=CBC|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/british-museum-art-siksika-alberta-1.3866525|access-date=2021-03-24}}

Education

Stimson earned a BFA with distinction from the Alberta College of Art and Design{{Cite web|title=Adrian Stimson|url=https://canadianart.ca/author/adrian-stimson/|access-date=2019-11-04|website=Canadian Art|language=en-US}} and an MFA from the University of Saskatchewan.

Career

Stimson is a multidisciplinary artist: He creates paintings, installations, performances and video.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youraga.ca/bio/adrian-stimson|title=Adrian Stimson {{!}} Art Gallery of Alberta|website=www.youraga.ca|access-date=2019-11-04}} His mostly black and white paintings often depict bison in fictional settings. In his installations, he refers to experiences in the residential school system. His performances look at constructing identity and the blending of the Indian, the cowboy, the shaman and the Two Spirit being. Two recurring personas in Stimson's performances are Buffalo Boy and the Shaman Exterminator.{{Cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/arts/inthemaking/as-his-alter-ego-buffalo-boy-adrian-stimson-reclaims-what-was-taken-from-indigenous-people-1.4849528|title=As his alter ego Buffalo Boy, Adrian Stimson reclaims what was taken from Indigenous people {{!}} CBC Arts|last=|first=|date=4 October 2018|work=CBC|access-date=4 November 2019}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.pavedarts.ca/2012/the-shaman-exterminator/|title=The Shaman Exterminator: On the trail of the Woodcraft Indians with the Buffalo Boy Scouts of America|date=24 October 2012 |language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-04}}

Stimson travelled with the Canadian Forces Artists Program to Afghanistan in 2010.{{Cite book|last=Brandon|first=Laura|url=https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/war-art-in-canada/|title=War Art in Canada: A Critical History|publisher=Art Canada Institute|year=2021|isbn=978-1-4871-0271-5|location=Toronto}}

In 2017, Stimson created, "TRENCH," a five-day durational performance on the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation. The performance commemorates the approximately 4,000 Indigenous soldiers who served in the First World War.{{Cite book|last=Brandon|first=Laura|url=https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/war-art-in-canada/key-works/trench/|title=War Art in Canada: A Critical History|publisher=Art Canada Institute|year=2021|isbn=978-1-4871-0271-5|location=Toronto}} This contemporary art contributed to War Stories: 1917 at Calgary's Military Museums.{{Cite web|last=Carlyle|first=Catherine|date=2017-07-03|title=Adrian Stimson Honours Indigenous Warriors|url=https://www.gallerieswest.ca/api/content/68ad3514-6011-11e7-8391-0a5fbc963f88/|access-date=2021-03-24|website=Galleries West|language=en-ca}}

In 2019, Stimson collaborated with AA Bronson for the Toronto Biennial of Art on A public apology to Siksoka Nation by Bronson and Iini Sookumapii: Guess who’s coming to dinner? a work that explored the connection between two of their ancestors: Bronson's great-grandfather John William Tims, an Anglican missionary who established a residential school in 1886 and Stimson's great-grandfather Old Sun (1819{{En dash}}1897), the traditional chief of the North Blackfoot and a participant of the making of Treaty 7.{{Cite web|url=https://nowtoronto.com/culture/art-and-design/aa-bronson-adrian-stimson-reconciliation/|title=Beyond apologies: two artists set a table for reconciliation|last=Heather|first=Rosemary|date=2019-09-25|website=NOW Magazine|language=en-us|access-date=2019-11-04}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.artnews.com/2019/10/15/toronto-biennial-2019-review/|title=Finally, a Biennial That Does Justice to Indigenous Narratives|last=Durón|first=Maximilíano|date=2019-10-15|website=ARTnews|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-04}}{{Cite web|url=http://siksikanation.com/wp/history/|title=History & Culture {{!}} Siksika Nation {{!}} Siksika Nation Tribal Administration Website|website=siksikanation.com|access-date=2019-11-04|archive-date=2020-11-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112024224/http://siksikanation.com/wp/history/|url-status=dead}}

In 2020 he created a waterbed installation, a nod to Ono's and Lennon's famous bed-ins for peace as part of the Yoko Ono’s exhibition Growing Freedom at Contemporary Calgary.{{Cite web|last=Narine|first=Shari|date=Nov 21, 2020|title=Yoko Ono's Siksika collaborator creates a waterbed for Alberta premier to lie in|url=https://www.yorktonthisweek.com/regional-news/yoko-ono-s-siksika-collaborator-creates-a-waterbed-for-alberta-premier-to-lie-in-1.24242709|url-status=live|access-date=2021-03-24|website=Yorkton This Week|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123020035/https://www.yorktonthisweek.com/regional-news/yoko-ono-s-siksika-collaborator-creates-a-waterbed-for-alberta-premier-to-lie-in-1.24242709 |archive-date=2020-11-23 }}

Collections

Two of Stimson's paintings are in the North American Indigenous collection of the British Museum. His work is included in the collections of the Glenbow Museum, Calgary,{{Cite web | url=http://ww2.glenbow.org/search/collectionsResults.aspx?AC=GET_RECORD&XC=/search/collectionsResults.aspx&BU=&TN=Objects&SN=AUTO138&SE=1901&RN=0&MR=10&TR=0&TX=1000&ES=0&CS=0&XP=&RF=WebResults&EF=&DF=WebResultsDetails&RL=0&EL=0&DL=0&NP=255&ID=&MF=WPEngMsg.ini&MQ=&TI=0&DT=&ST=0&IR=1640&NR=0&NB=0&SV=0&BG=&FG=&QS=CollectionsSearch&OEX=ISO-8859-1&OEH=ISO-8859-1 | title=The Glenbow Museum > Collections Search Results }}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.{{Cite web | url=http://alberta.emuseum.com/objects/11022/post-modern-bison?ctx=4bf7cefd-1ff9-41cf-b59f-073027ee7606&idx=0 | title=Post Modern Bison}}

Awards

In 2018 he was awarded the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.{{Cite news|last=Ward|first=Rachel|date=23 February 2018|title=Siksika artist's work to hang in National Gallery of Canada after Governor General's Award|work=CBC|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/adrian-stimson-siksika-first-nation-governor-generals-award-art-1.4548598|access-date=4 November 2019}} Stimson won the Blackfoot Visual Arts Award in 2009,{{Cite web|last=vanlovesart|date=2018-04-14|title=2018 Governor General Award Winner, Adrian Stimson, Explores Indigenous Culture, Identity, and History With Beauty and Humour|url=https://www.thevancouverartsreview.com/2018/04/2018-governor-general-visual-media-arts-award-winner-adrian-stimson-explores-indigenous-culture-identity-history-beauty-humour/|access-date=2019-12-04|website=The Vancouver Arts Review|language=en-US}} the Alberta Centennial Medal in 2005 and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2003,