Shawnee Danielle

This audio is from our virtual studio visit with artist Shawnee Danielle in conversation with Kyra Heneghan-Smith, and was originally recorded on September 10, 2022 over Zoom. About Shawnee Shawnee Danielle is an Indigenous Cree artist who was  raised on the Maskwacis Reserve and is currently based in  Amiskwaciwâskahikan or so-called Edmonton. In 2018, she graduated from  MacEwan University with a Diploma in Fine Arts and moved forward in her  academic studies to complete her Bachelor’s in Fine Arts in Art and  Design at the University of Alberta in 2020. In 2019, she received the  Indigenous Careers Award and was awarded numerously by Nipisihkopahk  Iyinisiwin Trust Fund for the completion of her education throughout her  academic career. She considers her practice to be a continuous  exploration of her own Cree identity, both learning and exercising  traditional practices, as she navigates her relationship with cultural  identity through themes related around femininity, indigeneity, trauma,  and body. While she works primarily as a painter, she also works with  various mediums such as installation, video, digital media and  photography. About Kyra Kyra Heneghan-Smith is a multidisciplinary artist living in  Amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta) whose primary mediums include  soft sculpture, photography, illustration, and painting. Drawing  inspiration from nature and ecology, Kyra explores themes of gender,  intimacy, and environmental decline. She is interested in poetics and  pattern, and much of her work employs tools like metaphor and  repetition. Kyra Graduated from MacEwan University in 2018 with a  diploma in fine arts, and she received her BFA from the University of  Alberta in 2021. Since graduating, Kyra has developed a commercial  design practice, and spends much of her time learning and exploring new  ways of making. Outside of work or the studio, Kyra can be found tending  to her vegetable garden - an extension of her creative practice.