Upcoming Solo Exhibition:
Nawemaa / to be related
September 7 - 26, 2023
Dignam Gallery, Women's Art Association of Canada
23 Prince Arthur Ave, Toronto
My Background
My name is Amber Quail and I’ve been a visual artist for as long as I can remember. My practice is based out of Toronto and South Algonquin, and I am a member of Alderville First Nation. My father is Indigenous, and my mother is a descendent of white settlers from Wilberforce Ontario. These ancestries have deeply influenced my worldview both personally and artistically. Through personal and professional experience I have come to believe that art is medicine.
My Medium
It is with gratitude that I acknowledge my good fortune to be raised in an environment where creativity was valued. Some of my relatives beaded, made moccasins, tanned hides, worked with textiles, wrote poetry or painted, and I was encouraged to construct art out of whatever was on hand. Not only do I take pleasure in working with conventional fine art materials but also enjoy the creativity of utilizing found objects such as paper bags, scraps of birch bark and pine needles.
Inspiration
When reflecting back on my lifelong artistic journey I can see how the body of my work has evolved organically. A common thread of relationship and identity connects the pieces together. My works are sometimes situational, often inspired by personal ruminations over familial stories or reclamation of traditional knowledge, but always rooted in the blood memory of my Indigenous culture.