The Art of Hide Tanning

The Art of Hide Tanning

Tanned hide is the canvas that holds Alberta’s oldest art forms; integral to the history and culture of the Indigenous people of this province. Northern Alberta is one of the few places in North America where the knowledge of this traditional skill still exists. As a unique educator in Canada of this skill, Portage College uses the traditional process of tanning and incorporates the important associated cultural traditions, keeping this art form alive.

A special 25th Anniversary Commemorative Art Project funded by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the exhibition is “designed to create a legacy artwork, performance, or composition that reflects the evolution of Alberta’s arts community over the past 25 years.” The exhibition features the artwork of Amy Malbeuf and Ruby Sweetman, both of whom are graduates of the Native Arts and Culture program at Portage College. The artists worked together to create home tanned moose hides using the traditional thirteen step process, which is taught at Portage College. As the artists worked at Portage College, the community and students were able to watch, learning from the work. The artists use these tanned hides to create their own art works representing the past and the future of this art form.

Ruby Sweetman is of mixed Cree ancestry and has been a professional artist and an instructor in the Native Arts and Culture Program for over 20 years. As one of the most experienced instructors of the traditional Woodland Cree hide tanning process, she creates traditional hide tanning art works representing the past.

Amy Malbeuf is an award winning Métis multidisciplinary visual artist from Rich Lake, Alberta who works in a variety of mediums such as caribou hair tufting, beadwork, installation, performance, and video. For this exhibition, Amy Malbeuf will be creating contemporary artworks representing the future of traditional hide tanning.

The artwork in this exhibition, not only highlights tanned hide, it showcases many forms of Indigenous Art. Traditional and contemporary Indigenous art practices are an important part of Alberta’s unique cultural identity that are based in this land that we live on. As such, they are vital to the celebration of our rich and vibrant past, present, and future.