Distinguished Artists

Faye HeavyShield

2021

  • Visual Arts
  • Blood Reserve, Kainaiwa Nation, AB

Over the past 30 years, Faye HeavyShield has been one of Canada’s pre-eminent artists within Alberta and the Blackfoot Confederacy. Currently living on the Blood Reserve in southwestern Alberta, Faye studied at Alberta University for the Arts in Calgary. 

Honouring her Kainaiwa (Blood) Nation, the striking landscape they dwell within and the Blackfoot language which she speaks, Faye HeavyShield’s legacy of three-dimensional art and sculpture including recent installations incorporating photography and delicately constructed paper figures make her a senior figure in the artistic and cultural renaissance of Indigenous nations in the country.

My art is a reflection of my environment and personal history as lived in the physical geography of southern Alberta with its prairie grass, river coulees, and wind and an upbringing in the Kainaiwa community. I would say the environment is an extension of myself because it’s always been there, from the time I was a child. It was one of the first things that I saw and smelled. I consider it a part of me. The landscape is an extension of the body because we’re dependent on it, and to flip that, the landscape is dependent on us. Faye HeavyShield
Beyond her own personal practice, Faye is actively involved with her community by working with youth through art programming and creating cultural connections for children in care.

Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Medal 2022

  • Faye HeavyShield, wave, 2018. III: HeavyShield, Knowles, Cameron-Weir, Remai Modern, Marquee Gallery, August 31, 2018 – January 20, 2019. Photo: Blaine Campbell
  • Faye HeavyShield Clan Southern Alberta Art Gallery 2020
  • Faye HeavyShield, wave, 2018. III: HeavyShield, Knowles, Cameron-Weir, Remai Modern, Marquee Gallery, August 31, 2018 – January 20, 2019. Photo: Blaine Campbell
  • Faye Heavyshield: Aapaskaiyaawa (They are Dancing), 2002, acrylic paint, beads, plastic filament on canvas. Collection of the MacKenzie Art Gallery, purchased with the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program.
  • Faye AGA November 2017
  • Faye HeavyShield, wave, 2018. III: HeavyShield, Knowles, Cameron-Weir, Remai Modern, Marquee Gallery, August 31, 2018 – January 20, 2019. Photo: Blaine Campbell

NEWS AND OTHER WORK

ARTISTS IN SIMILAR FIELD

Marjie Crop Eared Wolf

Year: 2024

Visual Arts

Braxton Garneau

Year: 2024

Visual Arts

Nahanni McKay

Year: 2022

Visual Arts

Kiona Callihoo Ligtvoet

Year: 2022

Visual Arts

APPLY FOR the Distinguished Artist Award
Distinguished Artist AWARD RECIPIENTS
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

© 2025 the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Awards