“I create, teach and mentor out on the land and in my studio located in Treaty 6 and 8 areas,
the place where my Cree, Métis and Settler family have called home for generations.” ~ Kim
BIO
Kim was born in Athabasca, Alberta, Canada making her the 5th generation to live in that place. Her father’s Métis heritage connects her to the Métis Homeland of Red River with family names Gullion, Brabant, Brazeau, and to Métis/Cree communities in Alberta through the family name Nipissing. In addition, Kim’s settler-ancestry reaches back to Scotland, Poland, France, and the Ukraine with each ancestor bringing their rich cultural and artistic practices with them.
Art Practice and Research Interests:
Kim is interested in making new meaning, combining Métis cultural art forms with contemporary art practices as a way to uncover Métis identity and knowledge systems that have been hidden, lost, or adapted as survival mechanisms.
Creative Family Members:
• Kevin Gullion (brother) - a woodworker who builds custom electric guitars.
• Loretta Gullion (mother) - was a painter, ceramicist, and surface decorator who taught her unique techniques in the family-run ceramic studio.
• Mary Berezan (grandmother) - was a seamstress, potter, and sculptor who dug her clay from the banks of the Athabasca River.
• Carrie Gullion (grandmother) - worked with textiles, designing and sewing decorative home decor.
• Anna Berezan (great grandmother) painted intricate Pysanky - patterned eggs (wax-batik method) and embroidered cultural designs.
• George Gullion (great, great grandfather) - was a boatbuilder who built York Boats for the Hudson’s Bay Company.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I have been investigating my identity throughout my art career. Asking questions like, “How do others see me?” and “How do I see myself?”. This has expanded into questions like, “Who are my community?” and “What role do my ideas, thoughts and feelings play in that community and beyond?” Recently, I have been using historical maps, vintage encyclopedia pages, and old adverts that document ways in which people have ‘settled’ the land known as Canada. I apply my beadwork as an act of resistance over these western ideas of progress, ‘charting’ my thoughts using glass beads which have historically symbolized agreements between peoples with differing worldviews. Within my art, I like to discuss Métis identity, community well-being and exploitation versus respect for land and natural ecosystems.
CV