I grew up in a place called Petawawa, Ontario, Canada. It was a place made perfect by the local beach, deep hole swamps, turtle ponds and the beauty of the Canadian Shield - sacred ground for a curious child. And sometimes when I'm drawing, that child gives voice to the playfulness of the lines on the page and I remember what it is to draw things because they make me feel something. This is how I create the things I do - because I "feel" them.

There's no time frame that has dictated how long I've tried to walk this Red Road, but some days it feels like a lifetime. Until recently I thought I was just a white person doing Native art. I discovered that the blood of the Micmaq' people runs beneath my skin - doesn't change who I am - it just makes me curious about how and where my ancestors lived.

The first time I smelled sweetgrass, I smelled my childhood and the morning kissed field behind my house. When I first got my hands on some sage, I burned the entire bag within days, simply because I couldn't get enough of the fragrance. I touch stones because they feel good beneath my fingers. I put colours together because the spirits of the pen and of The Ancients wish it to be so. I like to feel the paper beneath my fingers before I draw, and I ask the Creator if today is a good day for my hands to speak or should I simply play with the colours. I am so thankful that I I get to use a beautiful gift often and that's something no amount of money could ever buy for me.

I love what I do, but more than this, I love how it touches those around me. My most sincere wish as an artist, is to touch the spirit of one who searches for a piece of themselves in something I have done.
I am an artist - this is not what I do, it is who I am.

Thanks for stopping by. You can reach me at Here

Colleen

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