Richelle Bear Hat is a

Blackfoot The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...

and

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

artist, based in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada, on

Treaty 7 Treaty 7 is an agreement between the Crown and several, mainly Blackfoot, First Nation band governments in what is today the southern portion of Alberta. The idea of developing treaties for Blackfoot lands was brought to Blackfoot chief Crowfo ...

territory. Bear Hat's work explores the ancestral transmission of knowledge, memory, and Indigenous relationships to land. According to curator Kristy Trinier, "her practice investigates ideas surrounding family relationships and the types of knowledge that are capable of being passed through them. These ideas are explored through the use of photography, transfers, video and paper based works. It is important to use materials and means of production that support the transference of memory and provide a platform for storytelling."

Biography

Richelle Bear Hat is from the Treaty 7 territory. She is a

and

artist born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Her mother was from the Siksika First Nation, and her father is from the Blueberry First Nation in Northern British Columbia, near Fort St. John. Richelle Bear Hat collaborates frequently with her sister

Brittney Bear Hat Brittney Bear Hat is a half Blackfoot, half Cree artist. She makes work in a variety of media, including photography, installation and video, as a means to explore how memory and personal identity construct her Native identity. Biography Brit ...

Early life and education

Bear Hat was born in

, Alberta. She holds a BFA in

Drawing Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...

Major exhibitions

*''In shadows of the individual'', Walter Phillips Gallery,

Banff Centre Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

, Banff, AB. 2018 *''Horse Camp'', in collaboration with

, curated by Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective, AKA Artist Run Centre, Saskatoon, 2017 *''Maps and Dreams'', in collaboration with Brittney Bear Hat, curated by Brian Jungen and Melanie O'Brian. Audain Gallery / SFU Galleries. Vancouver, BC. 2017. *''Little Cree Women (Sisters, Secrets and Stories),'' in collaboration with Brittney Bear Hat, Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton, AB. 2016.

Education

Richelle Bear Hat studied Painting at the Alberta College of Art and Design. She received her BFA in 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bear Hat, Richelle Artists from Calgary First Nations artists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian multimedia artists Canadian women artists Cree people Siksika Nation people