Bio
BIO / Namaakii Bee Bear Hat
Namaakii Bee Bear Hat is a Mohkinstsis based artist, whose Blackfoot and Cree/Dane-zaa ancestors have lived on the lands that are now part of Treaty 7 and 8, for many millennia. Her work explores this cultural lineage through installation, photography, text and collage. Bear Hat graduated from the Alberta University of the Arts in 2011, where she majored in painting. Her work explores identity and story-telling, wanting to give back to the rich stories of her home territories. Within her work, Bear Hat is unfolding that which ties her to these unique landscapes.
Bear Hat’s most recent work, these trails are home, was a part of Story Keeping (2023) exhibition at The Nanaimo Art Gallery. Other recent exhibitions include, Big Rock River: Contemporary Indigenous Art in an Ancient Land (2022) exhibition at The Okotoks Art Gallery; Related (2022), at Libby Leshgold Gallery, Vancouver; Visions of the Hunt (2018), The Esplanade, Medicine Hat; níchiwamiskwém | nimidet | ma soeur | my sister, Contemporary Native Art Biennial (BACA), Art Mûr, Montréal and I Believe in Living (2018), Untitled Arts Society, Calgary. Bear Hat has also been awarded the Joane Cardinal Schubert Memorial Scholarship in 2011 and the Sonia de Grandmaison Scholarship in 2013.
Education
BFA 2011 Alberta University of the Arts; Major: Painting.
Work Related Experience
2022 Grant jury member, Calgary Arts Development, Calgary, AB.
2021 Acquisitions jury member, Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Edmonton, AB.
2019 - 2021 Board Member, Untitled Arts Society, Calgary, AB.
2018 Adjudication member, The New Gallery, Calgary, AB.
2013 Research assistant, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary AB.
2012 Summer Intern, Truck Gallery, Calgary AB.
2011 Summer Intern, Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Calgary AB.
Workshop Experience
2019 What does Mohkinstsis/Calgary mean to you?, Esker Foundation Youth Workshop,
Esker Foundation, Calgary, AB.
2012 Works Festival – Short workshops for Alberta Culture Days, Calgary AB.
2012 Red Cross – Art workshop for Aboriginal Youth, Calgary AB.
Exhibitions
2023 Ii’pait’aapiiyisinn: Art in the Contemporary and Ancient Blackfoot Way of Life, Stride Gallery, AB.
2023 Story Keeping, Nanaimo Art Gallery, Namaimo, BC.
2022 Big Rock River: Contemporary Indigenous Art in an Ancient Land, Okotoks, AB.
2022 Related, Libby Leshgold Gallery, Vancouver, BC.
2020 Planetary, Contemporary Calgary, Calgary, AB.
2018 Vision of the Hunt, Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre, Medicine Hat, AB.
2018 níchiwamiskwém | nimidet | ma sœur | my sister, Art Mur, Montreal, QC.
2018 I Believe In Living, Untitled Arts Society, Calgary, AB.
2018 Lineage, Latitude 53, Edmonton, AB.
2017 Horse Camp, Emily Murphy Park, Edmonton, AB.
2017 Maps and Dreams, Audain Gallery, Vancouver, BC.
2017 Camp, Arts Commons, Calgary, AB.
2017 Kokum, Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, Kelowna, BC.
2016 Cream, Contemporary Calgary, Calgary, AB.
2016 Little Cree Women, RBC Project Space, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB.
2015 Future Station, Alberta Biennial, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB.
2015 Atlas Sighed: 2014-2015 Calgary Biennial, Calgary, AB.
2014 Ours, Latitude 53, Edmonton AB.
2014 Deadly Lady Art Triumvirate, Contemporary Calgary, Calgary AB.
2013 That's What She Said, Truck +15 window space, Epcor Centre for the Performing Arts, Calgary, AB.
2012 Indigeneity, The Works Festival, Edmonton, AB.
2011 So On and So Forth, Alberta College of Art and Design and Ant Hill, Calgary, AB.