Open Beading Session with Ruth Cuthand

Free admission + cash bar

SAW Nordic Lab's current artist-in-residence, Ruth Cuthand (Saskatoon), invites members of the Ottawa-Gatineau art community to an open beading session in Club SAW. First-time beaders are welcome! All materials will be provided, and snacks will be available.SAW staff will be on hand to inform young and emerging Indigenous artists and makers about the recently launched NEXT Emerging Indigenous Makers Program, generously supported by the Ottawa Community Foundation.

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Ruth Cuthand is a mixed media artist of Plains Cree, Scottish and Irish ancestry whose practice includes painting, drawing, photography and beadwork. She holds a BFA and MFA from the University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon). Her career is devoted to exploring the repercussions of colonization on Indigenous communities in Canada. Through her powerful aesthetics balancing political invective and humour, her work challenges mainstream perspectives of colonialism and relationships between settlers and Indigenous people. Adopting the traditional craft of beading in her practice is a way to celebrate Indigenous women while addressing discussions of colonialism, racism and reconciliation. Ruth Cuthand’s work has been acclaimed nationally and featured in many collections, such as those of the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto) and the MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina). She was recognized with a Lieutenant Governor’s Arts Award in 2013 and a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2020, two of Canada’s most prestigious art awards.