Carrot River beading artist Marcy Friesen has her first exhibition at the Mann Art Gallery with her show entitled “Shoot the Breeze” on Saturday.
“The show itself has a lot of like physical beaded pieces,” Friesen said. “I’ve got one video installation in it and a few of the photographs that I’ve taken … of beadwork, fish and myself.”
Friesen’s artwork is an extension of her life: she beads to share memories, to laugh, to heal, and to reflect friendships and family bonds.
According to the Mann Art Gallery description Shoot the Breeze is her latest body of work, showcasing her expansive practice of personal expression through beading. From sentimental stories steeped in her heart to the seemingly banal objects she finds around the house.
“Her witty yet thoughtful transformations—through beading, sewing, installation, and photography—invite us into a vibrant worldview shaped by possibility, openness, and kindness,” reads the description.
Friesen said she began to work in Indigenous beading to connect to her ancestors.
“It’s a traditional form of Indigenous handiwork that my ancestors used,” she explained. “I bead because there was a time in the past when my ancestors, it was illegal for them to practice their traditional knowledges and handicrafts. That is part of why I do it I also do it, to feel a sense of pride in my culture and to honour my ancestors.”
She said using the different methods such as photographs and video installations are other ways that she is able to share her culture. They include shots of her out on the land or fishing on the lake.
“That’s definitely cultural for me as well. It all ties together quite nice,” she said.
She said the title of the exhibition is quite self-explanatory.
“Shoot the Breeze is based on sitting and visiting and having a smoke and having a drink and a coffee or whatever and just sitting and visiting,” Friesen said.
Friesen is new to being a working artist. She also runs a business called Trapline Creations and works with hides. She is based just outside of Carrot River.
“I’ve always been a maker since I was young,” she said. “I’ve always felt the need to create using a lot of different mediums. I just started calling myself an artist in 2019.”
In an earlier interview with the Herald she said she was inspired to become a working artist after a visit to the Remai Modern in Saskatoon.
This is Friesen’s first time having an exhibition at the Mann Art Gallery but not her first time having a piece on display at the Mann. Friesen won the Prince Albert Winter Festival Art Show and Sale Best in Show in 2024 for her piece entitled “Come Eat”, a KFC bucket adorned in fur and beading.
“It’s the closest exhibition I’ve had to home, which is quite special,” she said. “I’ve had work across Canada and down into the States.
“Family and friends will actually be able to see it in that sort of institution whereas they’ve never been able to before because it’s always been wherever over in Vancouver or Toronto or somewhere.
The opening was built around a discussion between Friesen and Ruth Cuthand.
“Ruth Cuthand is like a way maker for Indigenous women artists,” Friesen said. “She’s like a trailblazer in contemporary Indigenous art. We’ll have a nice discussion. She’s also my mentor.”
Interim Artistic Director Jesse Campbell emceed the event. It opened with a prayer by Elder Liz Settee.
Friesen said she hopes that the exhibition opens people’s minds to Indigenous art.
“I just hope that they see the beauty in Indigenous culture,” she said. “I want them to just stop and think and just see what can be done with beadwork in beading contemporary pieces and just to slow down and enjoy life.”
Friesen also hosted a beading workshop at the Mann. She has worked in Prince Albert for five years now as an artist in the community. She is also involved in several workshops.
“I’ve worked for the city for about five years now as an artist in community. I do a lot of workshops, mostly in Pine Grove right now in the women’s correctional, but lots of different places,” Friesen said,
She said that doing the workshops at Pine Grove is a fabulous way to connect women to Indigenous beading. She explained that doing beadwork can also be helpful.
“Beadwork has helped me be more comfortable in my skin and has given me such a sense of pride,” she said. “I like to share that and hopefully other people can get that same sense of feeling.”
Running concurrently with Shoot the Breeze is Threads of Connection, which shares a variety of beaded artworks from the Permanent Collection of the Mann Art Gallery. The three artists represented – Cuthand, Catherine Blackburn, and Kaley Svendsen – each have connections to Friesen.
Shoot the Breeze and Threads of Connections are on display at the Mann Art Gallery until Jan. 10, 2025.
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
