Irene M. Gray
I am a Mother of two Darlings, Gramma of Mr. Darling, and a Mature Art Student. I returned to Algoma University over three years ago to complete my degree. This time in the Bachelor of Fine Arts Program.
I fast tracked my time here in the program due to being on a leave from my work as the Garden River First Nation Public Library’s Resource Centre Coordinator (Librarian). I have been in that position for just over 18 years and I return to it at the end of my courses.
I have spent these past few years learning quite a few new skills as well as increasing my knowledge in areas of Aboriginal art and historical practices.
I am an Ojibway Artist who utilizes various materials to promote the Anishinaabe Language and traditions to teach others and keep the stories living.
My exhibition A Wilderness Walk developed after writing the story of how Mukwa lost his tail. The story starts out in my Nokomis kitchen while she is making cinnamon buns. After writing the story and while creating a series of illustrations I started to make multiple diorama sets from the story. One of the dioramas is of Nokomis in the kitchen, another is of the forest with all the animals, Mishomis, and myself, and the final diorama is of Mukwa and Nigig fishing with their tails.
There are three interactive dioramas built and designed to encourage visitors to move between worlds and bring to life the story of how bear got its tail through the movements of the characters as well as encouraging the use and practice of the Ojibwe language. Due to Covid please take viewing pleasure in finding the characters in
the dioramas.
Installation Images
Process Images
