Amy Malbeuf

Photo: Nicole Lapierre

Biography

Amy Malbeuf is a Métis visual artist and cultural tattoo practitioner from Treaty 6 territory; born in Edmonton and raised in Rich Lake, Alberta. She currently creates art and tattoos on unceded Mi’kmaq territory at her studio in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Through utilizing mediums such as caribou hair tufting, beadwork, installation, performance, video, and tattoo Malbeuf explores notions of identity, place, language, and ecology. 

Since 2010, Malbeuf has exhibited her art work nationally and internationally in over forty shows at such venues as Art Mûr, Montréal, Winnipeg Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe; and Pataka Art + Museum, Porirua, New Zealand. She has participated in many international artist residencies including at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, (AUS); Fogo Island Arts; The Labrador Research Institute; and Santa Fe Art Institute (US). She holds a MFA from the University of British Columbia-Okanagan.

Since 2016, Malbeuf has been tattooing exclusively in hand-poke and skin-stitch methods using her own unique designs rooted in Cree and Métis visual culture. In 2014 Amy met Dion Kazsas who was reviving his ancestral Nlaka'pamux tattoo practices and she received her first tattoo. This skin-stitch tattoo gave her insight into the power of ancestral skin markings. She became passionate about Indigenous tattoo revival and co-founded the Earthline Tattoo Collective with Dion Kazsas and Jordan Bennett (Mi’kmaq). They organized the very first Earthline Tattoo School in 2016 on the unceded lands of the Syilx Okanagan Nation in Kelowna, British Columbia; during which Amy was mentored in hand-poke and skin-stitch methods by Dion Kaszas, Nahaan (Tlingit), and Nakkita Trimble (Nisga’a). Until 2020 Amy co-directed, taught, researched, and attended tattoo gatherings with Earthline Tattoo Collective. The collective dissolved due to the onset of the global pandemic in 2020 but the learning and teaching that Amy engaged in remains a formative time in the development of Amy’s tattooing practice. She now provides hand-poke and skin-stitch tattoos at her private studio, Red Willow and Rebar Art, in Bedford, Nova Scotia. 

Contact Amy

Artist Statement

land

landscape

transformation 

memory

medicine

post-memory

colour

earth

collapse

blood

revolution

hyperbole

 

 

space

physical

trajectory

indigenous

poison

cold

survivance

future

story

love

magic

responsibility

language

ancestors

home

Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • Master of Fine Arts Degree, Visual Arts, University of British Columbia - Okanagan, Kelowna, 2016
  • Native Cultural Arts Instructor Certificate, Portage College, Lac La Biche, 2012
  • Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree, Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary, 2010

Solo Exhibitions       

  • 2019 tensions, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon; Small Arms Inspection Building, Mississauga
  • 2018 tensions, Artspace, Peterborough; Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary
  • 2018 The Length of Grief, AKA Gallery, Saskatoon
  • 2017 Inheritance, Kelowna Art Gallery
  • 2016 apihkew, Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, Kelowna
  • 2015 A Woman And This Bannock That She Made For You, Plain Red Gallery, First Nations University of Canada, Regina
  • 2015 All the time, everywhere, Play, Blindside, Melbourne, AU (as Neon Kohkom, Amy Malbeuf + Jordan Bennett)
  • 2014 kayas-ago, Art Gallery of Alberta, RBC New Works Gallery, Edmonton
  • 2014 Flattened and Confused, Project Space Gallery, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, AU (as Neon Kohkom)
  • 2011 Beyond..., Stride Gallery Project Room, Calgary

Group Exhibitions

  • 2025 Knowledge Made Concrete, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary
  • 2025 AGA100: Act 3 Words to Worldmaking, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton
  • 2025 Shimmering, Katzman Art Projects & IOTA Institute, Halifax
  • 2024 Take Care, Ociciwan, Edmonton
  • 2024 Love the Skin, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina
  • 2023 Fissure, Nocturne, Halifax, with Carrie Allison, Jordan Bennett, and Jordan Hill
  • 2022 What the Water Knows, the Land Remembers: Toronto Biennial of Art, Arsenal Contemporary Toronto
  • 2022 Radical Stitch, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina
  • 2020 My Cousin’s Cousin, Eastern Edge Artist Run Centre, St. Johns
  • 2020 They Forgot That We Were Seeds, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa
  • 2020 Labour’s Trace, Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond (two person show)
  • 2019 Contemporary Editions: NSCAD Lithography Project, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax
  • 2019 niigaanikwewag, The Art Gallery of Mississauga
  • 2018 Hot Culture, Gallery 101/Asinabka Film and Media Arts Festival, Ottawa
  • 2018 Unpacking The Living Room, Mount St.Vincent University Art Gallery, Halifax (as Neon Kohkom)
  • 2018 The Art of Hide Tanning: Tradition Inspiring the Present and Future, Alberta Craft Gallery, Edmonton (two person show)
  • 2018 In Red Ink, Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, US
  • 2018 Resilience Billboard Project, MAWA, various sites across Canada
  • 2018 Reclamation, Government House, St. John’s
  • 2018 níchiwamiskwém | nimidet | ma sœur | my sister, BACA, Art Mûr, Montréal
  • 2018 In Dialogue, Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba, Brandon; Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa
  • 2017 Language of Puncture, Gallery 101, Ottawa
  • 2017 Entering the Landscape, Plug In ICA, Winnipeg
  • 2017 Insurgence Resurgence, Winnipeg Art Gallery
  • 2017 Crafted Strangers, The Center for Craft, Creativity, & Design, Asheville, US
  • 2017 In Dialogue, Art Museum, University of Toronto Art Centre, Toronto
  • 2017 Connective Tissue, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, US
  • 2017 Coyote School, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton
  • 2017 Museum of Capitalism, Oakland, US
  • 2017 Material Girls, College Art Galleries, University of Saskatchewan; Rodman Hall, Brock University, St. Catherine's
  • 2016 No Visible Horizon, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff
  • 2016 If We Never Met…, Pataka Art + Museum, Porirua, NZ
  • 2016 Aja’sit, Campbell River Art Gallery. (two person show)
  • 2016 Culture Shift, BACA, Art Mûr, Montréal
  • 2016 Culture Shift, BACA, Art Mûr, Montréal (as Neon Kohkom)
  • 2016 Change Makers, Art Gallery of Mississauga
  • 2016 Material Girls, Doris McCarthy Gallery; Contemporary Calgary
  • 2016 Enendaman | Anminigook, Aceartinc., Winnipeg
  • 2015 CUSTOM MADE: Tsitslem te stem te ck'ultens-kuc, Kamloops Art Gallery
  • 2015 Moving Forward, Never Forgetting, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina
  • 2015 Material Girls, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina
  • 2015 Future Station: Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton
  • 2015 Eco-Indian, Wanuskewin Heritage Park, Saskatoon
  • 2015 Wayfinders, TREX, Art Gallery of Alberta, various locations in Alberta tour completed 2018
  • 2014 As If, Kings ARI Gallery, Melbourne, AU (as Neon Kohkom)
  • 2014 Deadly Lady Art Triumvirate, Contemporary Calgary
  • 2013 Gashka’oode: Tangled, Forest City Gallery, London, ON
  • 2013 A Glimpse into the World of Neon Kohkom, SNAP Community Gallery, Edmonton (as Neon Kohkom)
  • 2012 Indigeneity, Feature Exhibit: The Works Festival, Edmonton
  • 2013 Emnowaangosjig || Coming Out, Toronto Free Gallery
  • 2011 Ancestral Teachings: Contemporary Perspectives, Gladstone Hotel, Toronto

Performances

  • 2019 continuum, with Meagan Musseau, University of Alberta, Augustana Campus, Camrose
  • 2016 driving in my ndn car, M:ST: Spring Runoff, Calgary (various locations in AB and BC)
  • 2015 Ravel, Stories From the Edge, Open Space and Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
  • 2015 A Woman And This Bannock That She Made For You, Performing Turtle Island Symposium, First Nations University of Canada, Regina
  • 2015 Winter: Portal Series, Material Girls, Dunlop Art Gallery, Regina
  • 2014 Ravel, Exhibiting the Archive/Performing the Archive, FOFA Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal
  • 2014 Confederation: The Portal Series, Art in the Open Festival, Charlottetown.
  • 2013 Tangled:The Portal Series, 10 performances around London, ON for Gashka’oode: Tangled
  • 2013 A Woman Having Her Moontime And This Bannock That She Made For You, The Resolute Parka, The Banff Centre
  • 2012 My Moral Compass, M:ST Performance Art Festival, Calgary.
  • 2011 Modicum Divine: The Portal Series, Visualeyez Performance Art Festival, Edmonton

Public Art Commissions

  • 2018 ᐃᐢᑯᑌᐤ (iskotew), permanent sculpture, for (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11 ∞ Indigenous Art Park, Edmonton Arts Council
  • 2013 Upholstered Cultural Facets of a Pehonan, for Ramble in the Bramble, transitory public art project, Edmonton Arts Council

Screenings

  • 2017 Native Crossroads Film Festival, Norman, US
  • 2016 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, Toronto
  • 2016 thirstdays No. 2: ReMatriation and other ruminations, VIVO Media Arts, Vancouver
  • 2013 Sidewalk Screenings, Whippersnapper Gallery, Toronto

Curatorial, with Jessie Ray Short

  • 2022 Other Worlds, Art Gallery of York University, Toronto
  • 2021 Other Worlds, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston
  • 2018 Li Salay, Art Gallery Alberta, Edmonton
  • 2017 Where the Weather Happens, Niagara Artist’s Centre, St. Catherine's

Residencies

  • Artist in Residence, Fogo Island Arts, Fogo Island, May 2024 (3 weeks)
  • Artist in Residence, Lithography Workshop: Contemporary Editions, Anna Leonowens Gallery, NSCAD University, Halifax, March 2018 (2 weeks)
  • Artist in Residence, Native Arts and Culture Program, Portage College, Lac La Biche, August 2017 - May 2018 (10 weeks)
  • Canada Council for the Arts Fellow, Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, US, June - August 2015 (3 months)
  • Artist in Residence, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Indigenous Artist Exchange: University of Lethbridge, Melbourne, AU, March - May 2014 (6 weeks).
  • Artist in Residence, Contemporary Calgary, January 2014 (2 weeks).
  • Artist in Residence, Memorial University - Grenfell Campus, at The Labrador Research Institute, North West River, December 2013 (2 weeks).
  • The Woodland School - What Colour is the present?, Thematic Residency, The Banff Centre, Visual Arts, January - February 2013 (7 weeks).
  • Emerging Indigenous Voices, Kuaaina Associates/San Francisco State University, US, July 2011 (2 weeks).
  • Revolution 2012, Thematic Residency, The Banff Centre, Visual Arts, January - February 2011 (7 weeks). 

Awards

  • 2020 Sobey Art Award – Longlist
  • 2019 ᐃᐢᑯᑌᐤ (iskotew), ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11∞, Award of Excellence, Creative City Network of Canada
  • 2019 ᐃᐢᑯᑌᐤ (iskotew), ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11∞, Year in Review, Americans for the Arts
  • 2019 ᐃᐢᑯᑌᐤ (iskotew), ᐄᓃᐤ (ÎNÎW) River Lot 11∞, Edmonton Urban Design Awards, honorable mention
  • 2018 Alumni Horizon Award, Alberta College of Art + Design
  • 2017 Reveal Indigenous Arts Award, Hnatyshyn Foundation
  • 2017 Sobey Art Award – Longlist
  • 2016 William and Meredith Saunderson Prize for Emerging Artists in Canada, Hnatyshyn Foundation
  • Emerging Artist Award, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards Foundation,
  • 2011 Norval Morrisseau Fine Arts Award, National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation 

Exhibition Catalogues

  • Radical Stitch, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, 2024.
  • Water, Kinship, Belief, Toronto Biennial of Art and Art Metropole, 2024
  • Amy Malbeuf, Artspace, Peterborough, 2018.
  • níchiwamiskwém | nimidet | ma sœur | my sister, BACA, Art Mûr, Montréal, 2018.
  • Exhibition Notes: Entering the Landscape, Plug In Editions, Winnipeg, 2018.
  • Insurgence Resurgence, Winnipeg Art Gallery, 2017.
  • Connective Tissue: New Approaches to Fiber in Contemporary Native Art, IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, 2017.
  • thirstDays: Love, Intimacy and (com)passion in a geopolitical context, VIVO Media Arts,             Vancouver, 2017.
  • No Visible Horizon, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, 2016.
  • Future Station: Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of Alberta, 2015.
  • Material Girls, Black Dog Publishing, London, UK, 2015.
  • Amy Malbeuf: kayâs-ago, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, 2014.
  • Deadly Lady Art Triumvirate, The New Gallery Press, Calgary, 2014.
  • Gashka'oode, Forest City Gallery, London, CA, 2014.
  • Beyond..., Stride Gallery Catalogue 2011- 2012, Calgary.
  • Ancestral Teachings: Contemporary Perspectives, Thunderbird Aboriginal Arts, Culture, and Entrepreneur Centre, Toronto, 2011.

Press

  • 20 Shows We Want to See in 2017, Canadian Art, Online, January 2, 2017. (feature)
  • Family ties, Steven Leyden Cochrane, Winnipeg Free Press, January 14, 2016. (review)
  • Rock, Paper, Scissors: “Custom Made”, Michael Turner, Canadian Art Online, July 21, 2015. (review)
  • Kimiwan, Indigenous Futurisms, Issue #8/takwakin 2014, p. 35. (artwork)
  • Amy Malbeuf Q&A: My References, My Self, by Leah Sandals, Canadian Art Weekly Online, Nov 6, 2014. (interview)
  • Inspirational kayas-ago exhibit on display at the Art Gallery of Alberta, by John Copley, Alberta Native News, September 22, 2014. (article)
  • Gashka'oode, by Suzanne Newman Fricke, First American Art, Fall 2014, p. 85 -86. (review)
  • Visually Inspired, by Samantha Martin, Inside Labrador Magazine, Summer 2014. (article)
  • Art Show is "Education Done in Hard Truths", by Shelley Boettcher, Calgary Herald, February 13, 2014. (article)
  • Art Exhibit Challenges Gallery-Goers to Think, by Darlene Chrapko, Alberta Sweetgrass, Volume 22, Issue 4, February 10, 2014. (article)
  • Kimiwan, Regeneration, Issue #5/ pipon 2013, p. 32 - 33. (artist feature)
  • A Glimpse into the World of Neon Kohkom, by Agnieszka Matejko, Vue Weekly, June 19, 2013. (review)
  • From Dusty Death to Snowy Rebirth, by R.M. Vaughan, The Globe and Mail, November 25, 2011. (review)