Notice Board

Architecture & Design NOW Series presents alumna Albertine Crow Shoe
Blackfoot Jeweler/Artist
6 pm | February 8, 2021
uLethbridge Online Presentation

Please reserve your pass at: uleth.ca/tickets. Registration is required as we need to provide you with secure access information prior to the start of the event.

Albertine Crow Shoe - Artist Statement

My art is an interpretation of art forms that go back to our stories, to ceremony, and to our ways of knowing. Niitsitapiiysin our traditional Blackfoot way of life, exists today and thrives within modern society. Our stories, connection to the land and worldview is our foundation for the world we live in.

My ability to create comes from my mother. She taught me to see beauty in my world even when things where dark. My inspiration in my designs comes from my great grandfather Stumik Sapop, Bull Plume. Until his death in 1920 he maintained a Winter Count ledger that recorded significant events in Blackfoot history for each year, from its start in 1764. Each small pictographic image carried with it a story for that event. Blackfoot history, our history, told by us, became visible to the outside world.

Perseverance and dreams have guided me down this path as a jeweler/artist and I am grateful and humbled. My mentors have taught me to see and experience a deeper connection with humility and prayer, which is a connection of rebirth, strength, knowledge and language.

My designs flow from images that are symbolic in Blackfoot culture that invoke memory, history and spiritual power. I use many traditional materials from our ecosystem and while I put these on non-traditional bases (silver) I remember who I am and where I come from, the Piikani Nation. Miisamosoko, the Ancient Road was the trail of my grandparents and great grandparents who were all prominent ceremonialists among the Piikani-Blackfoot. It is my obligation and privilege, to carry this on for my people and to bring an awareness of these values to the non-Indigenous world.

Image courtesy of artist. Copyright Albertine Crow Shoe.