One of eight people charged in the Norval Morrisseau art forgery case pleaded guilty to two charges Monday in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Gary Lamont pleaded guilty to a charge of making false documents, mainly artwork, that was attributed to Morrisseau and a count of defrauding the public in an amount exceeding $5,000. The other seven charges he faces are expected to be withdrawn at his next court appearance on Dec. 14, which will discuss potential sentencing. 

Third parties in the case will be contacted and victims, Anishinaabe elders, community members and Morrisseau’s family will be invited to make impact statements to the court. 

Lamont’s lawyer Gil Labine attempted to seek a publication ban, but that request was denied by Justice Bonnie R. Warkentin.

Police laid more than 40 charges against eight people this past March after a years-long investigation into the forgery of the famous Anishinaabe artist’s work.

Morrisseau, who died in 2007 at age 75, was a renowned Anishinaabe artist from the Ojibway Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation in northwestern Ontario. He’s known as the founder of the Woodlands School of Art and his work has been exhibited in galleries across Canada, including at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

During the investigation, police obtained a warrant to search Lamont’s home, where they began seizing paintings, according to Thunder Bay Police Service Det. Sgt. Jason Rybak, who laid out the police’s case in March. 

The Ontario Provincial Police and Thunder Bay Police Service collaborated on the investigation, which began in 2019. A significant lead for police came from the 2019 documentary film about the forgery of Morrisseau’s art, There Are No Fakes involving Kevin Hearn, a member of The Barenaked Ladies. 

Others charged in the case are David John Voss, Diane Marie Champagne, Linda Joy Tkachyk and Benjamin Paul Morrisseau, all of Thunder Bay. The court heard that Tkachyk’s matter will also be discussed on Dec. 14.

Also charged are Jeffrey Gordon Cowan of Niagara-on-the-Lake, James White of Essa Township and David P. Bremner of Locust Hill.

Police said the eight accused were part of three distinct, yet intertwined groups that created the fraudulent artwork. The first group was launched in 1996 and operated in Thunder Bay like an assembly line.

Another group started in 2002, and brought in talented Indigenous artists to create the paintings. Finally, a third group began operating in southern Ontario in 2008.

The three groups traded paintings back and forth, and two of the accused were involved in the distribution of paintings by all three groups.

The fraud also included creating fake certificates of authenticity, police said. 

A spokesperson for the OPP told CBC News on Monday that people who suspect they may have a fraudulent Morrisseau painting are advised to contact legal counsel.

During the Live Shows, fans can vote to save their favorite artist from elimination.

FOLEY, Mo. — Foley, Missouri, native Ruby Leigh performed on Monday night’s Live Show of NBC’s “The Voice.”

The 16-year-old moved the judges during last week’s Playoff Rounds with an emotional performance of “Long, Long Time” by Linda Ronstadt. Coach Reba McEntire picked Leigh to move on to the Top 12.

During the Live Shows, fans can vote to save their favorite artist from elimination.

Fans can vote via the show’s website or The Voice App and get one vote per email address per method.

Voting will take place for the Dec. 4 episode, Dec. 11 episode (top 9 artists) and Dec. 18 episode (top 5 artists). The voting window is 8:55 p.m. to 6 a.m. Central Time after the shows.

A crowd of friends and fans packed into JPs Hideout in Cottleville Monday night, ready to watch the teen compete in the first live show.

“Tonight is the night!” Leigh said in a post on her Facebook page before Monday’s live episode.

Tonight is the night!
VOTE 🗳 VOTE 🗳 VOTE 🗳 VOTE 🗳
God Bless y’all!
Love always
Ruby Leigh @highlight The Voice Grand…

Posted by Ruby Leigh on Monday, December 4, 2023

“The Voice” airs Mondays at 7 p.m. on 5 On Your Side and streams the next day on Peacock.

To watch 5 On Your Side broadcasts or reports 24/7, 5 On Your Side is always streaming on 5+. Download for free on Roku, Amazon Fire TV or the Apple TV App Store.

[embedded content]

Take an artful journey. We’ve partnered with local curator, writer, and artist Nya Lewis to produce Carry it Well, a series of public art installations that celebrate contemporary Black-Canadian art, artists, and the presence of African and Black communities in Metro Vancouver. Carry It Well features four large-scale artworks by contemporary Canadian artists Jan Wade, Natoya Ellis, Adeyemi Adegbesan, and Nya Lewis.

The artworks will be on display at Main Street–Science World Station, Granville Station (Dunsmuir exit), Stadium–Chinatown Station, and VCC–Clark Station for the next two years.

Working across a myriad of mediums, the four artworks peer into the traditions and ideologies of printmaking, quilting, Afro-futurism, and archival research to explore themes of stewardship, lineage, and tradition. The series “daylights” African and Black presence and history in Vancouver.

Here’s the story behind every piece:

Breathe by Jan Wade

📍 VCC–Clark Station

Previously presented at the Vancouver Art Gallery in the solo exhibition Soul Power (July 2021 – March 2022) and reproduced for Carry It Well, Breathe is a large-scale embroidery work featuring over 70 hand-stitched panels. For Jan Wade, time and embodiment are necessary elements of creation. Created over an 11-year period between 2009 and 2020, the vibrant abstract work took on new meaning in 2014 following the killing of Eric Garner in a prohibited chokehold by a police officer in New York City. Breathe became a mantra, a spell, and a meditation to sustain the artist’s life. Wade explains, “Every stitch is a new breath, an acknowledgment of the unacknowledged, an honoring of the work of women makers, and a daily reminder that the miracle of breathing should never be taken for granted.” (Wade)

Jan Wade is a nationally renowned artist who works in mixed-media assemblage, painting, sculpture, and textiles. Wade draws inspiration from her personal history as a Black Canadian woman with a mixed cultural background.

Woven Consciousness by Natoya Ellis

📍 Stadium–Chinatown Station

Natoya Ellis has created a series of eight artworks that foreground the hybridity and connectivity of the Afro-diaspora living in the region. Foliage native to the Chinatown area is juxtaposed with a variety of fabric patterns in these cyanotype prints and digital illustrations. Woven Consciousness intricately blueprints the fabric of our lives, intimately mirroring diverse embodiments of Black presence, and communicating a visual language of familiarity and humanization. Bandana, Kente, Ankara, Lamba, Madras, and Netela prints move across the illustrations and silhouetted figures in a lively recognition of tradition, heritage, and modernity. Woven Consciousness invites viewers to explore the subtleties of identity, belonging, and the cultural richness that characterizes Vancouver’s Black community. The series fosters a greater appreciation for the layered tapestry of Black culture within the diverse social fabric of the city.

Natoya Ellis is a multidisciplinary mixed media and installation artist. Her work examines the Black figure, Black womanhood, and the Black gaze.

Look for Us in the Whirlwind by Adeyemi Adegbesan

📍 Granville Station (Dunsmuir exit)

Inspired by a quote from the great Pan-African and Jamaican national hero, Marcus Garvey, Look for Us in the Whirlwind is an Afro-futuristic dreamscape and an ode to three leaders of the Black Vancouver Labour movement, Rosemary Brown, Frank Collins, and Emmitt Andrew Holmes. Like Garvey, Brown, Collins, and Holmes embraced a life of activism, shouldering the responsibility of advocacy in the hopes that future generations would prosper. They devoted their lives to fighting for fair treatment and equitable conditions for working people, and equality for people of African descent. Adeyemi Adegbesan boldly adorns Brown, Collins, and Holmes in Black contemporary and continental cultural signifiers that reflect their life narratives and characterize their leadership in Vancouver’s Black community. Among the adornments are Adinkra symbols, a porter hat, cowrie shells, railway porter and woodworkers’ union pendants, north star, and provincial flowers, reimagining these historical figures within a visual language of Black power and love.

Adeyemi Adegbesan is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist whose practice examines the intersectionality of Black identity. Adegbesan pulls from various elements of Black cultural ideologies to create Afro-futuristic portraits embodying themes of history, fantasy, speculative futures, and spirituality.

A History in Perpetual Motion by Nya Lewis

📍 Main Street–Science World Station

In its second iteration (first presented at The Museum of Anthropology in 2021-2022 as Writing Black Vancouver), A History in Perpetual Motion forges a visual timeline of call and response for Black Vancouver presence. Lewis’s text-based installation threads headlines from archival and contemporary newspapers Vancouver Herald, Georgia Straight, Vancouver Sun, The Tyee, North Shore News, and The Province. Transcribing over 100 clippings from 1940 to 2023, A History in Perpetual Motion is an embodied offering, readdressing the labour of placemaking, anti-colonial work, cultural production, and collective conceiving of Black communities in B.C. In bold, the phrases, ‘a call to action’, ‘a declaration of being’, and ‘a hope for what’s to come’. “Writing Black Vancouver Futures” and “Honoring Black Vancouver Histories”

Nya Lewis is a writer, curator, and artist who sees her work within a lineage of Black thought that blaze(d) a trail of discourse concerning Black experiences, love, question, heritage, and embrace. She currently serves as the Director of Artspeak Gallery and as the Vancouver Art Gallery research fellow.

Learn more about the artists and their art by reading through the didactic panels at the stations or by visiting translink.ca/carryitwell.

Through public art, TransLink provides a platform that amplifies artists’ voices, fostering meaningful dialogue on topical issues and telling stories that matter to our customers and the public.

TransLink acknowledges and thanks the project’s advisory panel, our community partner Hogan’s Alley Society, and Board Member and Chair of the Hogan’s Alley Society Community Land Trust, Amina Yasin, for their contributions to the project.

Use this map to discover all public art installations in our transit system.  

Valley Fine Art in collaboration with The Curtis Legacy Foundation is holding an event on Friday and Saturday to premiere their new exhibit based on the book “Edward S. Curtis: Unpublished Plains: Photographs, Memoirs, Conversations with Native Friends.” The event includes a meet and greet with John Graybill, Edward Curtis’ great-grandson, and his wife Colleen.

When Edward Curtis began photographing Indigenous peoples in the early 1900s, he had only six years of classroom education and no formal training in art, history, science, or other academic disciplines. Despite this, he became one of the 20th century’s most famous photographers and ethnologists. Today he is remembered for his twenty-volume masterpiece, “The North American Indian,” a publication that took nearly three decades to complete.

It is speculated that Curtis took 40,000 images during his career; however, only 2,234 were included in his magnum opus. Thousands of photographs did not make it into Curtis’ books; many were never seen by anyone other than the photographer and his assistant. Many of these photographs were packed away; the boxes were stored in the back of closets or stashed in attics and basements as this innocuous piece of history was passed down through Curtis’ descendants. When Edward Curtis’ great-grandson, John Graybill, became the proprietor of those boxes of forgotten photographs, he recognized both their beauty and the history they contained. These unpublished images, encompassing both special events and everyday life and ranging from Alaska to Oklahoma, are featured in the upcoming exhibition and corresponding book, “Unpublished Plains: Photographs, Memoirs, Conversations with Native Friends”.

The exhibit, premiering at the Buena Vista Heritage Museum, will feature more than just a selection of photographs. While the photos remain at the heart of the project, the exhibit strives to blend aesthetic and educational experiences. Storyboards will accompany the photographs, offering both descriptions of the different tribes represented and commentary from various current Great Plains tribal citizens.

The exhibit will also include a sneak preview of CLF’s Descendant Project. What started as an attempt to track down descendants of the Native Americans documented initially by Edward Curtis has blossomed into an endeavor that blends Curtis’ 20th-century photography with current 21st-century technology to deliver the Native voices of today. Utilizing an app on their smartphone, visitors will scan the portraits of these descendants, giving them access to interview clips with those people. Through this, visitors will be able to hear stories directly from Native voices, even when speakers aren’t present in the museum.

Visit https://www.valleyfineart.com for the full schedule of events.

The Rev. John Roberts and Andrew Basil, grandson of Sacajawea, stand at the grave
of Sacajawea, the Eastern Shoshone guide for the Lewis and Clark expedition, at Fort
Washakie. A new exhibition at UW’s American Heritage Center features 13 colorful paintings
by Irish artist Brian Whelan that celebrate the life of Roberts and his historic 66-year
ministry. (ArtSpirit Photo)

The University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center (AHC) will celebrate the opening
of three recently installed exhibitions Thursday, Dec. 7.

These are: “Portraits of the West: Photographs of James Bama” in the loggia; “White
Robe: The Story of the Sacred Journey of the Rev. John Roberts among Native Americans”
in Gallery One; and “Unmasking the Unknown: Delving into Literary Mysteries,” a book
exhibition in the Toppan Library. 

The reception will take place from 4-5:30 p.m. It will begin with three brief talks
about each exhibition in the Stockgrowers Room, followed by a small reception and
an opportunity to view the exhibitions. 

“Portraits of the West” features the photographs of Western artist James Bama. He
was widely known as an American realist painter whose work featured Western themes.
Bama took thousands of photographs during his career to use as the basis for his work.
The exhibition features some of these fine-art photographs that are every bit as exciting
as his paintings.

“White Robe” features 13 colorful paintings by Irish artist Brian Whelan that celebrate
the life of Roberts and his historic 66-year ministry on the Wind River Indian Reservation.
ArtSpirit, the arts initiative of the Episcopal Church in Wyoming, commissioned the
touring exhibition; it will travel to Europe after its stay at UW.

“Unmasking the Unknown: Delving into Literary Mysteries” is a book exhibition selected
from the AHC’s Toppan Library. This exhibition will follow the evolution of the mystery
genre from its early beginnings to its more recent adaptations that continue to engage
with audiences of today. These works span multiple artists from Arthur Conan Doyle
to Agatha Christie to more recent novelists such as Wyoming author C.J. Box. Along
the way, it visits subgenres ranging from Gothic tales to cops-and-robbers to true-crime
dramas.

American fashion designer Thom Browne is playing a central role in Sotheby’s retooled American sales in late January, selecting nine artworks and objects to highlight among a series of sales and events featuring centuries of art and design.

Browne, who is chairman of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, or CFDA, will also promote a sale of American design that the auction house is holding in partnership with the council. Proceeds will go to the CFDA Foundation for scholarships and business mentoring. 

“American art comes in so many different forms and tells so many different stories that allow me to see my own stories in new ways—to elevate them and challenge how I think about the world,” Browne said in a news release.

The designer, credited with “modernizing today’s uniform,” chose art and objects being offered in various auctions throughout a week Sotheby’s is calling “Visions of America.” With Browne’s partnership, the auction house hopes to draw more collectors to American craftsmanship, according to a spokesperson. 

Browne’s selections include fine art, furniture, and design objects, such as a Chinese export “Hong” punch bowl from the Qing Dynasty, Qianlong Period, 1780-85, and an American silver ice pail made in 1872 to appear as if it had been damaged by waves in a shipwreck. Chinese export porcelain was made in China for European and American markets and is held in many private collections. 

The designer also chose to focus on a circa-1795 portrait of George Washington by Charles Willson Peale, offered with an estimate range beginning at US$2 million, and an orange-and-yellow hued 1883 landscape of Wyoming’s Green River by Thomas Moran, estimated to achieve at least US$1 million. 

Browne’s other picks include a Chippendale-carved tea table, circa 1755, with a low estimate of US$800,000, a pair of Chippendale-carved mahogany tassel-back chairs, circa 1779, with a low estimate of US$10,000, and a federal “gentleman’s secretary,” circa 1880, estimated to achieve at least US$30,000. 

Another new charitable component of the sales are three collections of photographs depicting a 2018 restaging of Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms paintings made to “represent the multitudes of American identities that make us who we are today,” according to Sotheby’s. The remaking of Rockwell’s paintings was done in 2018 by Hank Willis Thomas and Emily Shur, in collaboration with Eric Gottesman and Wyatt Gallery, for For Freedoms, an artist-led nonprofit. Proceeds from each collection (with a low estimate of US$50,000) will benefit the nonprofit. 

Interior design will also play a role during this American-focused week, with Corey Damen Jenkins designing a 1,000-foot gallery space at Sotheby’s with art and design being sold throughout the week. 

In all, there will be five live auctions, including, for the first time, a sale of American bourbon and rye and a sale of real estate celebrating “American culture and creativity” from Sotheby’s Concierge Auctions. The whiskey sale includes “the President’s Choice Private Barrel Select for Haabs Restaurant,” a 112.8-proof bottle from 1963 expected to achieve at least US$60,000, and a Twisted Spoke 16-year-old 105 proof NV, with a low estimate of US$10,000. 

Four online sales throughout the week will include the CFDA auction and an auction of Native American art. 

According to Sotheby’s, the newly designed Americana week also will feature yet-to-be-announced events featuring designers, historians, journalists, and curators. 

On Sunday, December 17, at 3 p.m., The Leiber Collection hosts a captivating afternoon with visual artist Jeremy Dennis as he presents and signs copies of the second edition of his acclaimed book, “On This Site — Native Long Island.”

Delve into Long Island’s rich Native American history through Dennis’s mesmerizing 2016 photo series, brought to life in this beautifully updated edition. Immerse yourself in the stories of the land and its people through his stunning photography and profound narrative.

Dennis is a contemporary fine art photographer, a tribal member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, and lead artist and founder of the nonprofit Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio Inc. on the Shinnecock Reservation.

His work explores Indigenous identity, culture and assimilation from the perspective of an Indigenous artist.

“My photography explores indigenous identity, cultural assimilation, and the ancestral traditional practices of my tribe, the Shinnecock Indian Nation,” said Dennis. “Though science has solved many questions about natural phenomena, questions of identity are more abstract, the answers more nuanced. My work is a means of examining my identity and the identity of my community, specifically the unique experience of living on a sovereign Indian reservation and the problems we face.

“Despite 400 years of colonization, we remain anchored to our land by our ancient stories. The Indigenous mythology that influences my photography grants me access to the minds of my ancestors, including the value they placed on our sacred lands,” he continued. “By outfitting and arranging models to depict those myths, I strive to continue my ancestors’ tradition of storytelling and showcase the sanctity of our land, elevating its worth beyond a prize for the highest bidder.”

Ma’s House is a project that began in June 2020 and serves as a communal art space based on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in Southampton. The family house, built in the 1960s now features a residency program for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) artists, a shared art studio, and a communal library, along with hosting an array of art and history-based programs for tribal members and the broader local community.

For more information on the program, visit leibermuseum.org. To reserve tickets, visit eventbrite.com and search “On This Site – Native Long Island.” Tickets are by donation and support future programming and educational initiatives at The Leiber Collection.

The Leiber Collection is located at 446 Old Stone Highway in the East Hampton hamlet of Springs. For more information call 631-329-3288.

Double winners of the evening were Jess Moskaluke, for Country Artist of the Year and Single of the Year (“Heartbreaker”), music collective Trifecta Sound Co. in Industry Achievement and Music Company or Organization of the Year, and Katie Tupper, who picked up R&B Artist of the Year, as well as Music Video of the Year as part of the creative team for her video, “She Said.”.

Album of the Year was selected through a combination of public voting and an industry jury, and went to Jake and the Kid for their “Baby Bro” EP.

The awards program was recorded for later broadcast on Rogers TV / Shaw Spotlight community TV channels across Saskatchewan, and online viewing.

A leader amongst music makers in the province, Edmund Bull of Little Pine First Nation is known far and wide as the head singer and drumkeeper for the award-winning Red Bull Singers, as well as being an accomplished solo artist in the country genre.

Under his leadership, Red Bull achieved acclaim as one of the top pow-wow groups in North America, thrilling dancers and audiences around the globe for over 25 years, while releasing more than a dozen albums. Accompanied by the Red Bull Singers, Edmund has performed throughout Canada, the United States and Europe.

As he developed his skills as a musician in both traditional and contemporary music, Edmund created a unique style and sound, singing and writing music that has inspired and uplifted listeners.

Edmund has been named Best Male Artist, and Red Bull received the award for Pow Wow Recording, from the Native American Music Awards (including Red Bull performing at the inaugural NAMA event in 1998); as well, the Red Bull Singers were nominated for JUNO Awards for “Best Music of Aboriginal Canada Recording” in 1996 and 2000. Edmund continues to perform, including recently sharing a song at the Elders National Conference in Edmonton.

An After Party celebration was held following the awards show at Amigos Cantina, with music by Theo Noble, Dump Babes, and DJ Rain.

SaskMusic expresses our sincere congratulations to all the nominees and winners, and is honoured to be working with and representing such a talented field of creators and behind-the-scenes industry members.

SaskMusic thanks everyone who attended these events and encourages everyone to continue to support the music scene by attending live music events, and streaming, purchasing and sharing the music of our local Saskatchewan artists.

We would like to thank Creative Saskatchewan, the Government of Saskatchewan, and FACTOR (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings) for their support of the SMAs and SaskMusic.

The 2023 Saskatchewan Music Award Winners

Winner graphics downloadable here

Afrobeats Artist of the Year: Rooky (Saskatoon)

Album of the Year: Jake and the Kid, “Baby Bro” (Regina)

Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year: Falynn Baptiste (Saskatoon)

Country Artist of the Year: Jess Moskaluke (Langenburg/Rocanville)

Electronic Artist of the Year: FOOTWURK (Regina)

Hip Hop Artist of the Year: Skizza and AK Productions (Saskatoon / White City)

Indigenous Music Achievement Award: Edmund Bull (Little Pine First Nation)

Industry Achievement: Trifecta Sound Co. (Regina)

Inspirational or Spiritual Artist of the Year (TIE): Deeper Life (Strasbourg) and Elenee (Lloydminster)

Instrumental or Ambient Artist of the Year: Factor Eight (Saskatoon)

Metal or Hard Rock Artist of the Year: Flash Back (Regina)

Music Company or Organization of the Year: Trifecta Sound Co. (Regina)

Music Professional of the Year: Micheal Lander (Saskatoon)

Music Video of the Year (TIE): “She Said” by Katie Tupper: Ryley Konechny (co-director), Molly Schikosky (co-director, producer), Katie Tupper (producer) (Saskatoon); and

“Tous les matins” by Alexis Normand: Lindsay Arnold, director, animator and editor (North Portal)

Pop Artist of the Year: Marissa Burwell (Regina)

Producer of the Year: Bart McKay (Saskatoon)

R&B Artist of the Year: Katie Tupper (Saskatoon)

Rock Artist of the Year (TIE): GreenWing (Saskatoon) and The Steadies (Saskatoon)

Roots or Folk Artist of the Year: Jake Vaadeland (Cut Knife)

Single of the Year: “Heartbreaker,” Jess Moskaluke (Langenburg/Rocanville)

Venue or Festival of the Year: SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival (Saskatoon)

The Saskatchewan Music Awards are proudly presented by SaskMusic. For more information please visit www.saskmusicawards.com, email info@saskmusic.org, or call 1-800-347-0676.

SaskMusic is a non-profit, member-based association that represents, promotes and develops the artists and commercial music industry of Saskatchewan, Canada both domestically and internationally. We offer one-on-one guidance, workshops, marketing and export assistance, career development opportunities, a music directory, and more. From songwriters and freelance musicians to studios, we work with artists and industry members from across our province, in an extensive range of genres and skill levels.

SaskMusic is a source of information and resources for both the public, and the music industry. Our website is www.saskmusic.org; you can follow us for local music and industry news on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.