Presented in partnership with Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art Gallery

Join us for an online chat, Wednesday, July 21 from 12pm -1pm ,with GG Award Recipient Lori Blondeau as she takes us through the business of being an artist.

Please register online and a zoom link will be sent to your email address on the morning of the event by 11AM !

There is nothing easy about being an artist.

If you’re a creative and artistic individual, it’s absolutely possible to follow your dreams and earn a healthy living as an artist. BUT, not everyone is cut out to make it as an artist. It’s a tough niche to break into.

To become a successful artist you need passion, perseverance, an innate curiousity to seek truth, and you have to treat your artistic talents like a job. Essentially you’ll be an art entrepreneur. The more successful you are, the more time you’ll be spending on the business side of your art practice, rather than in the studio. This includes coordinating calendars, organizing shipments, doing your taxes, welcoming studio visits from curators, meeting deadlines, applying for grants all the while you’re trying to create a new body of work.

GG Award winning artist Lori Blondeau will take us through her life as an activist artist. What she has learned about the art biz, the dedication, the focus, how she juggles the day to day business aspects of art making and still remain true to her vision.

Lori Blondeau – Artist Biography

Lori Blondeau is an interdisciplinary artist working primarily in performance and photography. She is Cree/Saulteaux/Métis from Saskatchewan. Her mother is Cree/Saulteaux from George Gordon First Nation, located in Treaty 4, and her late father was Métis from Lebret, Saskatchewan.

• Blondeau holds an MFA from the University of Saskatchewan. In addition to her extensive exhibition history she has served on the Advisory Panel for Visual Arts for the Canada Council for the Arts.
• Blondeau has exhibited and performed nationally and internationally, including at the Banff Centre, the Mendel Art Gallery (Remai Modern) in Saskatoon, Open Space in Victoria, and FOFA in Montréal. In 2007, Blondeau was part of the Requickening project with artist Shelley Niro at the Venice Biennale. She recently had a solo exhibition at the Urban Shaman Contemporary Aboriginal Art Gallery in Winnipeg, and was part of the Scotia Bank Contact Festival in Toronto. Her art is held in both public galleries and private collections.
• Lori Blondeau is a 2021 recipient of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.

Click The Below Link for a profile on Lori Blondeau

Governor General’s Award in Media and Visual Arts – profile of Lori Blondeau

Urban Art Biz is a a series of online workshops focusing on the business side of art from an Indigenous perspective. Our goal is to provide insight into the professional world and work of Indigenous artists and Indigenous galleries.