Brenda Draney

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Brenda Draney
Born1976 (age 47–48)
Grant MacEwan Community College
AwardsNational Winner
2009 Aim is Important – RBC Canadian Painting Competition
Websitebrendadraney.com

Brenda Draney (born 1976) is a contemporary Cree artist based in Edmonton, Alberta.

Personal and professional life

Draney was born in Edmonton and raised in Slave Lake, Alberta.[1] Draney is a Cree, from Sawridge First Nation. She graduated from the University of Alberta in 2000 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in English Literature. In 2004, she completed a Fine Arts Diploma from

Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, including: What Colour is the Present? led by Duane Linklater (2013); Trading Post led by Candice Hopkins
(2012); Towards Language led by Greg Staats (2010); and North led by Sharon Shorty (2007).

In 2017 Draney was awarded a commission for a permanent public art project for the main atrium of the Macewan University Centre for the Arts and Culture.[3][4] In 2019 a number of her pieces were acquired through the Landmark: A New Chapter Acquisition Project[5] by the Art Gallery of Alberta as a part of the Canada Council for the Arts “New Chapter” grant.[2] Her paintings can be found in major private and public collections in Canada including, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Art Gallery of Alberta, RBC collection, Walter Philips Gallery, and National Gallery of Canada.[6]

Style and works

Brenda Draney uses stories, memories and family conversations to make subtle, powerful paintings. Many of these memories are pulled from her childhood, and most centre around Slave Lake, the small town in Northern Alberta where she grew up. What emerges from the canvas are cloud-like pictures, isolated moments and constellations of ambiguous but connected associations.[2]

In addition to the strong colours, what is most remarkable about Draney’s work is the expanse of raw or empty canvas. These blank spaces reflect her (and our) inability to recall everything.

Indian Act, residential schools, band membership, and Bill C-31 on Draney’s life and work. The image of a tent features in many of her paintings. It is a reference to both the temporary housing that the community of Slave Lake endured following the area’s recent natural disasters, and to the contemporary political movements to occupy space, such as Idle No More, Chief Theresa Spence’s encampment in Ottawa, and Edmonton
's tent city, to name just a few.

Awards

In 2009 Draney was announced as the first-place winner of the 11th Annual Royal Bank of Canada's (RBC) Canadian Painting Competition[7] for her painting titled Aim is Important, a sparse compelling painting.[8] For her first-place finish, Draney received $25 000 and her piece was added to RBC's private art collection. Honourable Mention's included Martin Golland and Sasha Pierce both from Toronto.

In 2013 Draney was on the longlist for the Sobey Art Award, and in 2016 was the finalist representing Prairies and the North[9] As one five regional finalists, her work was presented in an exhibition at National Gallery of Canada,[10] and was featured on CBC radio's IDEAS episode with producer Mary Lynk.[11]

In 2014 she won the Eldon and Anne Foote Visual Arts Prize, worth $10,000 for her painting Suspend[12].

Major exhibitions

  • Landmark: A New Chapter Acquisition Project, Art Gallery of Alberta, (April 28 – Nov. 11 2019)
  • Sobey Art Award, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, (2016/2017)
  • Future Station: The 2015 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art,[13] curated by Kristy Trinier, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton (2015)
  • 90X90: Celebrating Art in Alberta, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton (2014)
  • Suspend, RBC New Works Gallery, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta (2013)
  • Fiction/Non-Fiction,[14] curated by Wayne Baerwaldt and Naomi Potter, Esker Foundation, Calgary, Alberta (2013)
  • Incubator Series, Latitude 53, Edmonton, Alberta (2013)
  • They Made a Day be a Day Here,[15] curated by Amy Fung, Art Gallery of Grande Prairie (2013) Mendel Art Gallery (2014) School of Art Gallery (2014)
  • Not Forgetting, curated by Patrick Macaulay and Lisa Myers, Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, Ontario (2012)
  • Fire Destroyer Creator, with Jewel Shaw, curated by Angela Marie Schenstead, Stride Gallery, Calgary, Alberta (2012)
  • Go Figure, MKG127, Toronto, Ontario (2011)
  • Brenda Draney: Hold Still,[16][17] Latitude 53, Edmonton, Alberta (2010)
  • RBC Canadian Painting Competition, The Power Plant, Toronto, Ontario (2009)
  • RBC Canadian Painting Competition, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Quebec (2009)

References

  1. ^ a b Enright, Robert (Fall 2017). "Put the Sky Until the Sky Stops: An Interview with Brenda Draney". Border Crossings. 36: 69–73.
  2. ^ a b c d Copley, John (2018-05-31). "AGA exhibit features three prominent Indigenous artists". Alberta Native News. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  3. ^ "Home again - MacEwan University". www.macewan.ca. 2017-10-05. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  4. ^ Hampshire, Gareth (2015-08-26). "Slave Lake artist bringing trapline to life at MacEwan University". CBC News. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  5. ^ "LandMark: A New Chapter Acquisition Project | Art Gallery of Alberta". www.youraga.ca. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  6. ^ "Brenda Draney". brendadraney.com. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  7. ^ "Brenda Draney, of Vancouver, B.C., named winner of the eleventh annual RBC Canadian Painting". www.newswire.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  8. ^ "RBC Sponsorships". www.rbc.com. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  9. ^ "Edmonton artist Brenda Draney shortlisted for $50,000 Sobey prize". Edmonton Journal. 2016-06-01. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  10. ^ "Sobey Art Award - Exhibitions - National Gallery of Canada | National Gallery of Canada". www.gallery.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  11. ^ "The 2016 Sobey Art Award: The New Masters, Part 1". CBC Radio. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  12. ^ "Winner of the $10,000 Eldon & Anne Foote Edmonton Visual Arts Prize". Galleries West. 2014-07-01. Retrieved 2020-06-30.
  13. ^ "Future Station: 2015 Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art | Art Gallery of Alberta". www.youraga.ca. Archived from the original on 2017-03-26. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  14. ^ "Fiction/Non-fiction - Esker Foundation | Contemporary Art Gallery, Calgary". Esker Foundation | Contemporary Art Gallery, Calgary. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  15. ^ "They Made A Day Be A Day Here | A group exhibition curated by Amy Fung". www.theymadeadaybeadayhere.ca. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
  16. ^ "Brenda Draney: Hold Still | Latitude 53 Contemporary Visual Culture". Archived from the original on 2017-10-22.
  17. ^ Fung, Amy. "Canadian Art -- Brenda Draney: Thanks for the Memories". canadianart.ca. Archived from the original on 2017-10-22. Retrieved 2017-10-21.

External links

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