Eco Craft Talk Series | Erin Konsmo

The MCC is excited to be hosting a series of online artist talks via Youtube live! These talks are part of the MCC’s 2022 Year of Eco Craft, relating to climate change and environmental sustainability through the lens of contemporary craft practice.

All talks will be streamed live and saved on our Youtube channel, which can be found HERE

This series is made possible by the generous support of Assiniboine Credit Union.

Erin Konsmo: June 16, 2022, at 7 pm
Scaling our Relations: Caring for the Gifts from the Fish

Fish scale art is a contemporary Indigenous art form using the scales from fish to create elaborate miniature morals. Fish scale art is a time-intensive art form that requires catching fish, processing the scales, then dyeing and organizing the scales into careful compositions—a practice that is based on relationships with the water, local First Nations and Métis fishers, and the fish themselves. Fish scales are not a commercially available art supply, and so caring relationships are essential for the ongoing artistic practice. My work takes into consideration a material closely connected to the land and water, a site-specific practice of reminding us about the gifts from the fish. I seek to emphasize the importance that fish, waterways, and other more-than-human relations have within art and craft spaces. This talk will discuss the ethical and relationship process of creating fish scale art. It will also discuss themes within my fish scale art practice including, gifts from the fish, place and water, queer aesthetic, proportion/‘scale, and digitization of fish scales.

Erin Marie Konsmo is a Prairie queer who grew up in central Alberta and is a member of the Métis Nation of Alberta. Their arts practice currently focuses on fish scale art, an art form they were mentored into by Métis artist Jaime Morse. Most recently Erin was chosen as one of five winners of the Emerging Digital Arts Awards 2021 for their digital fish scale work. The EDAA is Canada’s first digital art award designed to foster experimentation in the work of emerging artists. Erin is an advocate for the water, land and fish and concerned about the waterways and non-human kin who call them home.