At Moonstone Creation, we work with more than 60 Indigenous artists and love celebrating their work. Here are a few of our featured artists whose work you can find in the gallery and in our online store.
Michael Lonechild
Michael Lonechild is a Cree, Native-Canadian painter best known for his brightly coloured depictions of historical and present-day Cree culture. His oeuvre contains images of hunting buffalo and customary preparations for campfires on winter days. Using acrylics, Lonechild builds up many layers of paint to produce a glowing and textural quality to his works.
"My technique is what people like to call the 'overlapping style',” the artist has said of his process. “I continue to paint over and over the same area in order to build up the mood."
Born in October of 1955 on the White Bear Reservation in Saskatchewan, Canada, Lonechild is self-taught, learning all he knows from books and observing other artists’ work. Lonechild lives and works between Saskatchewan and Alberta.
Kiitokii
Kiitokii is from the Blackfoot Confederacy in Southern Alberta (Piikani First Nation). His art is influenced by his Blackfoot and Lakota heritage. He began creating art as a teen that progressed to different art mediums. His art includes paintings, leatherwork, crafting, beadwork, music and digital art.His paintings use mixed mediums to create a multi-faceted piece of fine art.Kiitokii has said that each piece he does is influenced by the stories, songs and dances of the plains people.
John Rombough
Chipewyan Dene artist John Rombough was born in the remote community of Sioux Lookout in Northern Ontario, Canada. At the age of three, John was adopted by a Prince Edward Island couple. As a young adult, John began the search for his birth parents. He discovered his biological father living in the tiny community of Lutselk'e on the shores of Great Slave Lake in Canada's pristine Northwest Territories, since then John decided to move to the community in order to rediscover his cultural identity. John Rombough's painting style has since changed to reflect the harmony of the Dene people and the natural world. His distinctive modern aboriginal designs also encompass his own personal visions and strong connection with nature. His paintings are instrumental in conveying a message to the youth, a message of encouragement, leadership, strength, will power and determination.
Gordon Wesley
Gordon Wesley is a proud Nakoda Stoney from the Bighorn Reserve. As a child growing up on the reserve and being outdoors, he watched the wildlife in the Rockies. His passion for nature, his memories and experiences is where he gets the inspiration to capture the spirit of the wild and create life on canvas.“Most of my artistic vision is based on our homeland, where we live along the mountains,” said Wesley. “Growing up, I fell in love with the landscape and the wildlife.”
Kevin Pee-Ace
Kevin Pee-Ace is Cree from Yellow Quill First Nation and Peter Chapman First Nation in Saskatchewan. evin became aware of art through his uncle, Jerry Tony. Kevin completed his Fine Arts Studio diploma from UCFV, Abbottsford, BC.
Art and education are prominent in his life. He has collaborated throughout Saskatchewan creating class murals with many schools.
Mervyn Child
Mervyn Child (b. 1955) is an artist of Kwagul, Tlingit, Nuu Chah Nulth descent from T'sakis (Fort Rupert, BC). Mervyn comes from a family of Kwakwaka'wakw (a Pacific Northwest Coast Indigenous people) carvers, notably the Hunt family, including Calvin Hunt, George Hunt Jr., and Tom Hunt.
Halfmoon Woman - Pat Bruderer
"Birch bark bitings are like people. They are special and there are no two the same!"
Birch bark biting is one of the oldest Indigenous art forms. By separating the layers of bark and folding them, the artist visualizes a design that is then bitten into the bark. Historically, the process was done to record stories and to create beadwork patterns. Pat is a self-taught artist from Churchill, Manitoba and is a member of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. Her birch bark bitings can be found in galleries and private collections around the world.
Mark Totan
Mark Totan (b. 1953, d.) was an Inuk artist from the Igloolik community in Nunavut. He was a self-taught artist who had been carving original sculptures for many years. Each carving is original and depicts the history, symbols, and lifestyle of indigenous people. Traditionally, the art form has been taught and handed down to the younger family members and carried on through the generations. He has passed his knowledge on to his two sons.
Keegan Starlight
Keegan Starlight is an Indigenous artist from the Tsuut’ina Nation in Southern Alberta. Starlight started practicing art 18 years ago and has always been his passion, but he formally started his career during his time at ACAD. Starlight has since gained skills in animation, design, 2D studio art, and art instruction. He owns a freelance art company with his wife, Amanda Fox-Starlight. The Starlights’ two children, Tiernan (age 6), and Brielle (age 1), are their biggest inspiration and the reason behind their success. The Starlights’ practices are multidisciplinary, working in painting, drawing (charcoal, pencil, pen, and ink), jewellery (beaded, assembling, silversmithing, goldsmithing), as well as in fashion and design.
Elizabeth Buller-Page
Elizabeth is a member of the Mistawasis First Nation in Saskatchewan. Her Plains Cree and Metis heritage are the creative foundation of her work.Four Sky Thunder was Elizabeth’s great great grandfather. He was a counsellor and medicine man in Big Bear’s tribe. Four Sky Thunder burned down the Roman Catholic church in Frog Lake during the 1885 conflict. He was imprisoned in Stoney Mountain Penitentiary. Elizabeth’s grandfather James Solomon Buller was born on the Sweetgrass Reserve. He was a survivor of the Indian Industrial School in North Battleford. James married Rosina Demarais Campbell, a Saskatchewan Metis. Rosina enjoyed making beaded jewelry, clothing, ornaments, and other crafts.
Jerry Tony
Jerry Tony was born in Kelvington, Saskatchewan, and is Salteaux from Yellow Quill First Nation. He started painting in his early twenties, and is completely self taught. After doing Sundance, Jerry began having visions in his dream time. He keeps a sketchbook nearby his bed, so he can capture his vision and bring it to life. All of Jerry’s paintings reflect what he sees in his visions. His art has been included in private collections across the globe.
Leo Arcand
Leo Arcand is a Woodland Cree sculptor from the Alexander First Nations reserve in Northern Alberta. Leo has sketched since he was a young boy, but in 1991 he was introduced to stone carving, and this became his medium of choice.He works mainly in soapstone, drawing his inspiration from his deep spirituality and the keen belief that there must be a balance in all things.
“I do not produce art, nor do I create it. I discover the spirit of each stone and together we decide its’ message.”
Leo’s deep spirituality draws him into close contact with the Elders and the traditions they maintain. The drums, songs, ceremonies, and the Aboriginal peoples' natural affinity with Mother Earth are some of the themes reflected in his work.
Simone McLeod
Simone is a Cree - Ojibway artist born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1962. She is a member of the James Smith Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. Her Ojibway name is “Earth Blanket” – all that covers the earth such as grass, flowers, and trees.
Simone has been artistically motivated since the age of thirteen. She began by experimenting with various mediums, such as pencil, ink, charcoal, and pastels. At that time, her subjects mainly consisted of human portraits and some wildlife. She did not pursue painting until much later in her life.
Simone's work has been appreciated by international collectors from the Netherlands, Wales, Austria, France, Greece, South Africa, India, New Zealand, Japan as well as by local private and corporate collectors.