Daily Herald Staff
A collection of paintings about life in northern Saskatchewan have been returned to La Loche.
The paintings were inspired by artist Mary Joyce’s time living in Black Point, a hamlet south of La Loche, in 1989 and 1990. Joyce is from Edmonton.
She donated The Black Point Collection to the Mann Art Gallery in Prince Albert. They were featured in an exhibit in November 2022, along with the work of Lac La Ronge Indian Band Elder Myles Charles.
Artist Mary Joyce (left) discusses a painting with Lac La Ronge Indian Band elder Myles Charles during a reception at the Mann Art Gallery in Prince Albert.
According to a news release, Joyce created sketches and wrote in journals as “memory jogs and starting points.”
She then transformed those initial sketches into paintings while she lived in her one-room log cabin for a year in the north.
At the time of the exhibit, Joyce said the collection was focused on women’s roles in tanning and cleaning hides and taking care of their families.
Marcus Miller, who curated the exhibit, said he already had a plan in place with the La Loche Friendship Centre to have the paintings shown in the north on a rotating basis.
He hoped the paintings would provide education for youth on what life was like decades ago.
– with files from Jason Kerr
