Indigenous art created from joint compound is featured at a gathering in Manitoba, Canada. The drywall art is designed to be inclusive are examples of two artists who will be featured at the Steinbach Arts Council’s Hall Gallery in Manitoba in February.  

Artists Jessie Jannuska and Natalie Svingen will display their art and comics. The two spoke with Svjetlana Mlinarevic in a feature for the local news outlet The Carillon. 

“I was super excited to be approved for the show at first, then I started questioning my work and if I’m good enough. I really appreciate that the Steinbach Arts Council didn’t ever make me feel like I wasn’t as talented as some people that show. We all have to start somewhere and I think it’s very encouraging for new artists to be included,” said Svingen.

Svingen’s work is drywall with mixed media where she takes joint compound and sculpts it onto the drywall and then paints it. This tactile art is intentional as she wants those who are blind to touch her work.

“I feel like it’s a little more inclusive when you have a 3-D or texture that people can touch and feel the art as well as visually seeing it,” she said.

Svingen has been an artist since her 20s but took a break when she raised her children. It was only about eight years ago that she returned to it. Inspiration for her art comes from her Marchand home, which is surrounded by trees.

“I feel like I live in a campground,” she said.

Jannuska, who is of Dakota, Ojibway, and settler ancestry, has had multiple showings of her work at various galleries and she said she wants her show to be about healing and reconciliation.

“People throw that word (reconciliation) around but they don’t do the work. I’ve noticed with this comic book, it’s really brought the women in the comic book together, it’s brought the community of Brandon together.

“So many people are really identifying with the comic even non-Indigenous people. There’s an afterlife of a love between family members. There’s a love there.”

Jannuska’s comics are drawn on largescale canvases with beading and other mixed media. They depict the lives of three friends that she met at Brandon University’s Beading Babes group. Each woman is depicted with her spirit guide: Grace Masse with a wolf, Julia Stoneman a thundercloud, and Debbie Huntinghawk with a grizzly bear.

“What’s nice about comics is that it can live beyond the gallery and just captures so much of the story and what an image can do,” she said.

Jannuska, who graduated with honors with a fine arts degree, said her inspiration is her culture.