First and foremost, Suzanne Morrissette is an Indigenous artist. M\u00e9tis by way of the Red River Valley and Interlake regions in Winnipeg, Man., the artist, curator and scholar is a transplant to the territories of southern Ontario.<\/p>\n
She vividly remembers the work of Indigenous artists on the walls of her childhood home and in her father\u2019s office space, as well as the murals on buildings in her community.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up and being surrounded by this creativity was an exciting part of my everyday experience,\u201d Morrissette says.<\/p>\n
She always knew that working in the arts is where she would land professionally.<\/p>\n
Working across disciplines in Indigenous and curatorial studies, Morrissette is the newest member of Brock\u2019s Visual Arts Department, teaching Studio Art at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA). A trained artist, she holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design, a master\u2019s degree in Criticism and Curatorial Practice from OCAD University, and a PhD in Social and Political Thought from York University.<\/p>\n
Morrissette has worked extensively in the field with Indigenous artists curating diverse shows with focuses ranging from perceptions of Indigenous political thought to relationships between land and place.<\/p>\n
As a studio-based artist and scholar, Morrissette is deeply engaged in research creation, committed to exploring how creative work can be used to find solutions to research questions or problems. Her identity as an Indigenous artist and curator has a lot to do with the type of research she is involved with, and also shapes the way she participates in projects.<\/p>\n
Engaging with Indigenous methodologies, histories and knowledge systems will be critical to her teaching and continued research work that she now brings to the Brock community.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Brock, I see a great opportunity to continue the research and work that I am doing alongside colleagues who share a commitment to rigorous visual arts and studio arts-based research, and in a strong program and facility that is incredible for student research and work,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Morrissette is currently working on a project close to her heart and personal history, \u00a0a research study with collaborators Richard Hill of Emily Carr University of Art + Design and Jamie Isaac of the Winnipeg Art Gallery entitled \u201cSocial Histories \/ Indigenous Art: Curating Social Work\u2019s Influence on Winnipeg\u2019s Indigenous Art of the \u201980s and \u201990s.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project examines the relationship between the early developments of Indigenous social work that were taking place in Winnipeg in the \u201980s and \u201990s, and how these efforts supported concurrent developments in Indigenous arts.<\/p>\n
Even though it wasn\u2019t necessarily in the mandate for these organizations, they supported the arts and creative practice in the community, Morrissette says.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father and uncle were two of the people really involved in growing Indigenous social work capacity,\u201d she says. \u201cOur research team wants to learn about how this unstated but nonetheless important support of the arts came to be at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n