Kooshkopayiw Arts Collective
President of Kooshkopayiw Arts Collective and sculptor George Simard
Artists Aim to Awaken Métis Peoples’ Spirits
By Adrian Lysenko
Established in 2023, the Kooshkopayiw Métis Arts Collective has been celebrating Métis art and culture since their formation. President of Kooshkopayiw, sculptor George Simard, currently resides in Simcoe, Ontario, but is originally from Thunder Bay. “Art has always been a large part of my life. I am a Chippewa Métis born and raised in Thunder Bay,” he says. “While a grade seven student, I was given my first commission to draw and paint a billboard for the 1972 CLE.”
While creating art has always put Simard in his “happy place,” he felt the need to find a community of like-minded people. “Finding other Métis artists was proving difficult,” he says. “I felt there must be others in Ontario, so I went to Facebook and searched for Métis artists and began to contact them.”
Last November, the collective held an exhibition at Fort William Historical Park during the Thunder Bay Métis Council’s Louis Riel Day. The exhibit showcased Métis artists from across the province, including Atikokan artist Kristy Cameron and first-time exhibitor with Kooshkopayiw, Dryden artist Sharon Girdwood.
Visions of the shield, Sharon Girdwood
“Living with creative thought is an important gift and I treasure it,” Girdwood says. “My art is allowing my hands to be the extension of my dreams. I believe that my dreams are strongly guided by my Aboriginal ancestors.”
The collective’s name means “to awaken” in the Michif language. It’s fitting, as Métis leader Louis Riel is said to have once prophesized that, “My people will sleep for 100 years, but it is the artists who will give them their spirit back”—which is what Kooshkopayiw plans to do.
Past art exhibits featuring Kooshkopayiw have taken place at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery, the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte, Muskoka Discovery Centre in Gravenhurst, Ontario, and the Hamilton Central Library in Hamilton. The exhibits have featured multiple Métis artistic disciplines, including beadwork, sculpting, and paintings in a variety of styles.
For more information, find Kooshkopayiw Arts Collective on Facebook.