Jason Baerg and Elder Liz Settee held their En Plein Air Drawing Workshop in the evening summer sunset on the Prince Albert riverbank on Wednesday, July 29 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Participants used various art mediums, mostly oil pastels to create vibrant landscape drawings based on the north Saskatchewan river, guided by traditional indigenous teachings from Elder Liz Settee.
“There is a way to innovate even in the land, how we approach drawing, and our relationships to it. What is figurative, what is abstract translation of intuitively what we’re experiencing, what is the colour of that feeling that we’re having? I think that there is so many different approaches that are still yet to be explored, and this is just an opportunity to open the door to that,” said Jason Baerg, who was the Guest Curator at the Winter Festival Art Exhibition in 2026.
Jason Baerg is currently a professor at Ontario College of Art and Design University or OCAD U, where he teaches drawing and painting within the Indigenous Visual Cultures Program.
“I humbly am very grateful to be back and to do this,” said Baerg.
Baerg is Cree Metis from Saskatchewan and grew up in the west flat community of Prince Albert. He said art and fashion in television inspired him growing up, and is the reason that art was brought to him.
“As a two-spirit person, it wasn’t always safe for me. So the dream was tied to my future because that’s all I could do,” said Baerg.
“I never knew that I could become an artist, I think I just followed my creativity and doors opened where other doors closed. I believe that was my road to safety.”
Baerg shared that he is really happy to be back in Prince Albert, because it is proving that the dream can happen.
“Even if it seems out of your reach, we just have to trust that what is meant for us will fall upon us,” said Baerg.
Max Pahtayken/Daily Herald
A landscape drawing created by a participant in the Plein Air Drawing Workshop on Wednesday July 29 hosted by Jason Baerg with Elder Liz Settee, inspired by the Prince Albert north Saskatchewan riverbank.
Baerg shared his belief that connection is essential when making art, and intention is extremely important when creating. He said that art is not only made for the artist, but meant to move the audience.
“Landscape painting could be extractive if we’re here just trying to make some images to sell without a connection to it. Where’s the reciprocity in that?,” said Baerg.
Baerg shared that approximately half of the contributions from artists to the Winter Festival Art Exhibition were landscape or landscape inspired pieces, so he wanted to acknowledge and work with artists in their space of interest.
“This is her workshop, I’m here supporting her,” said Baerg when asked about why he chose to work with Elder Liz.
“I think art is ceremony, and I practice it like ceremony.”
Baerg expressed that elders bring valuable traditional teachings and that indigenous artists have a spiritual intention, and really deep connection with the land that affects their composition.
“This is how art should happen, on the land. We should be really considering those deep teachings and take them to heart when we’re participating,” said Baerg.
Jesse Campbell, who is the Interim Artistic Director for the Mann Art Gallery, began with introducing the activities in the workshop, which was followed by invitation for Elder Liz Settee to speak.
Participants began the workshop with Elder Liz guiding a traditional sage smudge, alongside her personal teachings about why and how to smudge.
Bearg explained that En Plein Air is a french classical term that means in the open air, and the workshop was inspired by Claude Monet’s Gardens in Giverny, and other studies from Monet where he composed different pieces from light on haystacks at different times of day.
Participants were instructed to create freely, focus on the present, the scenery and begin creating inspired by that. Participants were given two hours to create and converse with each other, while Baerg and Elder Liz roamed to chat with members.
Baerg said he is only visiting for seven weeks in Prince Albert, while he is working on a Metis specific project with the Mann Art Gallery for Back to Batoche Days 2027.
Metis artists involved in Kapishkum: Metis Gathering art exhibition at the Banff Art Centre in 2025, and local metis artists are working together with Baerg on the project.
