Joar Nango is an architect, builder, artist and self-publisher. Nango’s work often parses out the division between design, architecture, and visual art and uses improvisation as method and process. A long proponent of printed matter and its political potential to mobilize larger social transformations, Nango along with collaborators, have fulfilled publication projects including The Indigenuity Project, The Normadic Library and the self-published zine series Sámi Huksendáidda: the Fanzine. Nango has been part of a number exhibition projects throughout Canada and elsewhere. Among which includes, SAW Gallery in Ottawa, Vancouver’s Western Front, Gallery Deluxe in Halifax, and The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, Norway, Sydhavn Station in Copenhagen, Denmark, Bildmuseet in UmeÃ¥ Sweden and Tensta Konsthall in Stockholm. He recently presented European Everything at Documenta14 in Athens and Kassel in 2017.
Albyn Carias is an interdisciplinary artist that is originally from El Salvador. He immigrated to Canada at the age of 13 with his family and is fluent in Spanish and English. Albyn’s artistic research focuses on experimentation with unconventional materials to push the complexity of art beyond its imposed borders. His major focus is working with the Latino community in Brandon Manitoba, with an emphasis on immigration. He develops community-based artworks that discuss the barriers that Latino immigrants face everyday. Albyn graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from Brandon University Ishkabatens Waasa Gaa Inaabeteg.
Carrie Allison is an Indigenous mixed-ancestry visual artist, writer, arts administrator and educator, born and raised on unceded and unsurrendered Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver, BC). Situated in K’jipuktuk since 2010, Allison’s practice responds to her maternal Cree and Metis ancestry, thinking through intergenerational cultural loss and acts of resilience, resistance, and activism, while also thinking through notions of allyship, kinship and visiting. Allison’s practice is rooted in research and pedagogical discourses. Her work seeks to reclaim, remember, recreate and celebrate her ancestry through visual discourses. Allison holds a Master in Fine Art, a Bachelor in Fine Art and a Bachelor in Art History from NSCAD University.
David Peters is from the East coast where the ad hoc response necessitated by living against resource depletion means that people become clever in lean times. He knows that work set against lack is a creative endeavor, and feels best about his work is when it has some lived element, when it seems to become indistinguishable from everything else. Peters is part of an epistolary drawing and writing practice that bridges distances between friends and part of a collaborative practice with artist Leah McInnis under the name Club Assembly. Peters and McInnis work with salvaged materials to create arenas for the curious.
Evan Taylor is a Métis architectural intern and designer from Winnipeg, Manitoba. His interests lie in exploring spatial narratives, through drawing and making, as a participatory tool for architectural discourse within complex cultural scenarios and environmental conditions. Recent works look toward imagining constructive and collaborative futures for remote settlements and indigenous communities in northern Canada. He has travelled to remote First Nations communities to study the conditions of current housing stocks, and was recognized by Architects Without Borders’ “Indigenous Housing Competition” in 2018 for his proposal “Towards a New Normal” which approaches indigenous housing not as a singular design solution, but as a consequence of the socio-political and environmental variables that precede the creation of the dwelling itself. Evan holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design from the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Architecture and a Master of Architecture from Carleton University’s Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism. He currently lives in Toronto, working towards a professional architectural license.
Lorraine Albert is an interdisciplinary artist, educator, and designer whose work is rooted in conceptual ideation and lateral thinking, with an ongoing interest in pedagogy, design, and counterhegemonic theories. Her artistic and design practices put forth notions of space (place), body (movement), and time (pace) converge. She has a degree in Graphic Design (Dawson College), a Bachelor of Fine Art (Concordia University) and a Masters of Fine Art (NSCAD University). Lorraine presented a paper on alternative art pedagogies (2017) and co-facilitated a round-table addressing Land & Treaties (2018) at the Universities Art Association of Canada (UAAC) conference and was a panelist (2017) at the International Council of Fine Arts Deans (ICFAD) conference in Halifax, NS. Most recently, Lorraine was a scholar at the Centre for Art Tapes and presented choreographic work with Kinetic Studio, Halifax. Her work has appeared in festivals, galleries, and at various sites in Canada and Australia, including “Steps Forward,” a permanent installation on the Skyline Trail in the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.
Alicia Marie Lawrence is an urban contemporary artist working in two-dimensional mediums including painting, drawing and mixed media, and also works in the realm of textual art and creative writing, and integrating text and syllabics with visual media. Alicia is competent in the use of digital media, graphic design and communications, and is interested in the way drawing awareness to signage structures knowledge of our environments. At Plug In, she hopes to learn about ways to connect visual messaging in space to creative dialogues that nourish, energize, stabilize, and form an emotional, social and spatial compass. Alicia engages in process, technique and aesthetic, as statement, and continually explores the relation between artist, subject and viewer. She has completed coursework in visual art studio at Emily Carr University of Art + Design and Vancouver Island School of Art, and holds a Certificate in Art & Design Studio Skills from the Ontario College of Art & Design, and a Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing from Humber College.
Julie Gendron is an artist and designer who works within the areas of interactivity, accessibility, playfulness and change. Julie designs and facilitates experiences that allow people to explore and create their own point of view, culture and communities. Julie completed her graduate work in the department of Art, Design and Technology at Concordia University specializing in Participatory Design. She has received awards and grants from the Japan Media Art Festival, Canariasmediafest (Spain), Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, Centre interuniversitaire des arts mediatiques, Dora and Avi Morrow Award for Excellence in Visual Arts and BC Film. She has shared her work at various conferences in Canada, Spain, Japan, Australia and the US. Julie currently works independently under the guise of desiringproductions.com doing digital strategy, creative design, interaction strategy and installations.
Our Summer Institute in 2019 were generously supported by the RBC Foundation and Johnston Group.
Summer Institute 2019. Indigenous Architectures. Found objects on Site location. Objects used as main construction pieces for Installations.
Summer Institute 2019, Indigenous Architectures. Site Location Pre-setup.
Summer Institute 2019. Indigenous Architects. Process.
Joar Nango, Albyn Carias, Carrie Allison, David Peters, Evan Taylor, Lorraine Albert, Alicia Marie Lawrence, Julie Gendron. Site Setup / Stages Launch party. Summer Institute August 16, 2019. Indigenous Architectures.
Summer Institute II: Indigenous Architectures| Panel Discussion | Cheyenne Thomas, Ryan Gorrie, and David ThomasModerated by Joar Nango
Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art | 1, 460 Portage Ave | Winnipeg MB | Canada
Thursday, August 08, 2019 – 6pm
Plug In ICA is pleased to present a panel discussion between Cheyenne Thomas, Ryan Gorrie, and David Thomas moderated by Joar Nango in conjunction with the Summer Institute II: Indigenous Architectures. Each speaker will give a brief overview of their respective practice and speak to Indigenous urbanisms, architectures and landscape design projects in the city of Winnipeg and beyond.
Cheyenne Thomas is an Anishinaabe designer from Peguis and Sagkeeng First Nations. She graduated in 2013 from the Faculty of Architecture with an Environmental Design degree. She has worked on numerous Indigenous architecture, landscape, and installations across Canada. She is a facilitator and designer for the Indigenous Gardens at the Assiniboine Park. She has presented in London, New Zealand, and extensively across Canada. Currently, Thomas is a board member for the Forks and North Portage Partnership, and passionate about bringing her people’s visions and values into her projects.
Ryan Gorrie has been collaborating with Brook McIlroy since 2009, when he was retained as a key member of the design team for the award-winning Spirit Garden in Thunder Bay, and formally joined the firm in 2016 to lead the Indigenous Design Studio. Ryan is a member of Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek (Sand Point First Nation on Lake Nipigon) and strives to ensure the perpetuation of Indigenous culture through creative opportunities ranging from the crafting of traditional items for ceremonial use to large-scale landmark architecture. In 2018, Ryan’s work was showcased in UNCEDED: Voices of the Land at the Venice Biennale along with the work of 17 other Indigenous architects and designers across Turtle Island.
David Thomas is Anishinaabe, a member of Peguis First Nation, in the architecture profession for over 20 years. He is currently involved in the development of the Indigenous People’s Garden at Assiniboine Park part of Canada’s Diversity Garden. Along with Indigenous architecture projects and installations in Toronto and Vancouver, David has presented in New Zealand and the UK. David was also on the team of UNCEDED, Canada’s entry of Indigenous Architects for the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. David’s practice, process and research focus on identity and lived experiences as an Indigenous person.
Our 2019 Summer Institute II: Indigenous Architectures is lead by Joar Nango, who is joined by Lorraine Albert, Carrie Allison, Albyn Carias, Julie Gendron, Alicia Marie Lawrence, David Peters, and Evan Taylor for a collaborative two week session that will focus on Indigenous architectures, foregrounding Indigenous approaches to design and alternative models of social space.
Summer Institute II: Indigenous Architectures | Panel Discussion | Cheyenne Thomas, Ryan Gorrie, and David Thomas. Moderated by Joar Nango August 8th 2019.
Raymond Boisjoly has a BFA from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design where
he currently teaches. He also has an MFA from UBC and has exhibited work
widely across Canada and abroad. Boisjoly has shown work at Platform Centre
for Photographic + Digital Arts, Winnipeg; The Power Plant, Toronto; Vancouver
Art Gallery; Camera Austria, Vienna; Triangle France, Marseille; and most
recently at SITElines, Santa Fe. In 2017, he was a finalist for the AIMIA|AGO
Photography Prize as well as the Sobey Art Award. Writings on Boisjoly’s work
have appeared in Mousse Magazine, C Magazine, and OSMOS Magazine to name a few.
He is represented by Catriona Jefferies, Vancouver.
Raymond Boisjoly, Artist Talk. Summer Institute 2019. Indigenous Architectures.
Chris Cornelius is a citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He is the founding principal of studio:indigenous, a design practice serving Indigenous clients. Cornelius was a collaborating designer with Antoine Predock on the Indian Community School of Milwaukee, and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the inaugural Miller Prize from Exhibit Columbus, a 2018 Architect’s Newspaper Best of Design Award, and an artist residency from the National Museum of the American Indian. Cornelius has exhibited widely, including at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Chris Cornelius Artist Talk. Summer Institute August 13,
2019. Indigenous Architectures.
