Of the past 10 years of Michelle LaVallee’s career, 7 is the highlight.
That was the name of her most prided exhibition, which featured works from Professional Native Indian Artists Inc., also known as the Indian Group of Seven. The group demanded to be recognized as professional contemporary artists in the 1970s.
Coincidentally, 7 took place in 2013, her seventh year as a curator at the MacKenzie Art Gallery. The show also took seven years to organize, borrowing 120 pieces from private and public art collections.
“Getting to spend time with Daphne Odjig and Alex Janvier and Joseph Sanchez and meeting Norval Morrisseau before he passed, that’s definitely something I’ll carry with me,” said LaVallee.
While finalizing the exhibition, she had a baby in tow. Daughter Xochil Elena, now four years old, is one reason LaVallee is taking the next step in her career — moving to Gatineau, Que., to direct the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada Art Centre.
The city is much closer to LaVallee’s hometown of Toronto, where she still has family.
When she starts her new job on Oct. 26 — her 40th birthday — it will be the next step in a curatorial career that began almost by accident in 2005.
She will be responsible for managing a collection of 4,000-plus Indigenous artworks dating back to the 1960s.
“It’s probably one of the most important and comprehensive collections of contemporary Indigenous art in Canada and beyond,” said LaVallee.
Michelle LaVallee curated the fall 2013 exhibition 7: Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. at the MacKenzie Art Gallery.
She hopes to increase its profile and encourage her art gallery colleagues across Canada to access the collection for exhibitions.
“I don’t feel I’m leaving curating behind completely,” said LaVallee. “I’m still going to be able to work with a collection and artists who I admire and respect and … to help build upon this history, a very important history that the art centre has established.”
LaVallee, whose grandmother is from the Chippewas of Nawash First Nation, has made a point of featuring Indigenous artwork at the MacKenzie.
One of the biggest reasons is because “there’s still a ways to go” in terms of attitudes towards Indigenous people.
“We’re still living in a time where there’s lots of racism and judgments made based on a person’s racial background,” said LaVallee.
“The last show that I’ve had the privilege to work on at the MacKenzie kind of speaks to that history as well and where we are today and how we’re going to move forward. … We all play a role in how we’re going to move forward.”
Maori artist Brett Graham’s life-sized sculpture of a prairie wagon, Pioneer, is currently on display at the MacKenzie.
That show is Notes From the Inquest, which opens Saturday alongside Brett Graham’s Pioneer. Jeff Funnell’s courtroom drawings speak to the effects of colonization on the Prairies, telling the story of a 1988 Winnipeg coroner’s inquest into the police shooting of Wasagamack Cree leader J.J. Harper.
Given a year of Canada 150 celebrations, “I think it’s an important time to always be cognizant of where we’re at, where we came from, but more importantly where we’re going,” said LaVallee.
MacKenzie Art Gallery executive director Anthony Kiendl called LaVallee “an important part of the gallery’s history.” Other Indigenous curators Bob Boyer, Lee-Ann Martin and Patricia Deadman preceded her.
“As a gallery, our aim is to continue on with that legacy and to reflect on the work that Michelle has done and build upon it as we go forward and find a new person to take her place,” said Kiendl.
“She’ll be greatly missed by the MacKenzie and the broader community, not just in Regina but I think in Saskatchewan and Western Canada.”
That works both ways. LaVallee calls the move “a happy-sad thing.” She is glad for the new opportunity, but is going to miss the Regina community that embraced her and her partner, classical guitarist Ramses Calderon.
However, LaVallee said, “I don’t see this as ending my relationship with the MacKenzie at all. I’m hoping it’ll continue; it’ll just be in a different way” — perhaps as a guest curator.
