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Professional Art History

The following is a list of all past professional experiences in the career of Michelle Sylliboy Mi'kmaq Artist. Each role has been unique and has contributed specific elements to their personal and professional development. For references or additional information about anything listed below, get in touch directly. Click on more above for updates thank you for visiting my website

Three-time award winning author and Interdisciplinary artist Michelle Sylliboy is a two-spirit L'nu/ Mi'kmaq Artist born in Boston, Mass who was raised on un-ceded territory in We'koqmaq Unama'ki. She gathers much of her inspiration from personal tales, the environment, and her komwejwi'kasikl language. Her Interdisciplinary art practice led her to collaborate with emerging and professional artists. A PhD Candidate Michelle is working on her Philosophy of Education Doctorate Degree dissertation at Simon Fraser University where she combined her Interdisciplinary art background using Mi'kmaq Komqwejwi'kasikl language as her inspiration. Michelle is an assistant professor at STFX University in Antigonish NS. She was recently long listed for the 2022 Sobey Award. Winner of the Arts NS 2021 Indigenous Artist Recognition award and the 2020 Indigenous Voices Award. 

Click on her linktree to view her current projects: @msylliboy.taliaq.doh | Linktree

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Kiskajeyi - I am Ready by Michelle Sylliboy

Kiskajeyi - I AM READY published by Rebel Mountain Press is now available at rebelmountainpress.com and available as an eBook at

Odilo (US libraries)

Hoopla

Kobo

Amazon.com -Kindle

Amazon.ca   -Kindle 

Fanship

Baker & Taylor (Libraries only)

Cloud Library by Bibliotheca 

De Marque 

Hoopla

Follet/ Overdrive

Apple 

Barnes & Noble 

Gardners ( UK) TBA

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Capilano Review Poetry contributor

November 2017

Capilano Review poetry title "The Art of Reconciliation" The  incredible book is now online.

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Unsettled, Group Exhibition

June 2017

Unsettled video short is a collaboration with cellist Heather Hay.

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The Art of Reconciliation, Lead Artist Vancouver Public Library.

June 20,2016

In collaboration with Storyteller in Residence Renae Morriseau. The Art of Reconciliation evening
brought together local Vancouver Artists to respond to the 94 recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Process. By asking the tough question. What does reconciliation mean to you as an artist?

Warm Blurry Lights

Yellow Medicine Review

Spring edition 2018

The R-E-S-P-E-C-T Issue
Guest edited by Janet Marie Rogers with cover art by Israel Francisco Haros Lopez, this issue of Yellow Medicine Review contains work by Alice Azure, Devin James Baldwin, Lois Beardslee, Marjorie Beaucage, Irkar Beljaars, Tawahum Justin Bige, Chelsea Hicks Bryan, Vivian Mary Carroll, Christina M. Castro, Irene Edwards, Tammy Melody Gomez, Tai Amy Grauman, David Groulx, Geary Hobson, Jeanette Iskat, Alex Jacobs, M. Carmen Lane, Josh Languedoc, Israel Francisco Haros Lopez, Denise Low, Tiffany Midge, Rosetta Peters, Willa Powless, Vivian Faith Prescott, Barbara Robidoux, Janet Marie Rogers, Omar Sakr, Loralee Sepsey, Michelle Sylliboy, Jeff Tanaka, Storme Webber, Darryl Lorenzo Wellington, Thomas Pecore Weso, Logan Mikal White-Mulcare, Tyrone A. Wright, and Brian Wright-McLeod

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First American Art Magazine

February 24,2018

Interviewed by Matthew Ryan Smith and First Publication of
my Mi'kmaq Hieroglyphic (komqwej'wikasikl) poem

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Visual Arts News - Spring 2019: EXPANSE

SPRING 2019

#callresponse: conversation & action / Review by Kathleen Higgins

Expanse / Editorial by Shannon Webb-Campbell

When Small Things Matter: Ned and Mary Pratt / Feature by Mireille Eagan

Nelson White: Kinship and Reclamation Beyond the Artist Residency / Profile by Kate Lahey

Kym Greeley’s Highway Sightlines / Review by Jennifer McVeigh

The Most Important Thing: Art and the Rural Renewal of Fogo Island / Feature by Jolee Smith

Oracles, Questions & Translation / Q & A with Olivia Boudreau & Penelope Smart

Liminal Fleshold: A Net for Wonder & Oneness / Review by Gillian Dykeman

Michelle Sylliboy’s Ancient Messages / Mi’kmaq Komqwejwi’kasikl (hieroglyphic) Poetry

Kent Monkman’s Shimmering Resilience / Profile by Shannon Webb-Campbell

Purchase the full digital version of this issue »

A long lost memory

is never silent

it transforms the soul

to the future the way a river

rages through the veins

of what is felt and

what is needed

Michelle Sylliboy

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Art Philosophy

Unearthing the L'nuk philosophy through the art process

My artistic philosophy is anchored in the Mi’kmaq (L'nuk) philosophy of non-interference: an Indigenous worldview that engages the learner on multiple levels of how one sees and grows with the world.  This worldview has served me throughout my existence along with gentle nudges by elders, aunties, uncles and cousins, and an ever-expanding community.

 

I may sum up the L'nuk philosophy of non-interference as thus: follow the process, pay attention to the process, and allow and support what wants to emerge.  This philosophy represents an ultimate statement of respect for Life and Reality.  In an age wherein technology-driven rational dominates and massively interferes with reality has taken over First World thinking, the L'nuk way of thinking has been further marginalized.  It is my intention to reintroduce and infuse the L'nuk philosophy of non-interference in teaching.  Additionally, it is my intention as an indigenous scholar/artist to share that indigenous worldviews, such as L'nuk are also about understanding the history of land, language, and community, and how they are all interconnected.

 

We live in an age where critical thinking is often mistaken for judgment.  Part of my artistic philosophy is to contest this mistaken notion.  I share the following ideas about critical thinking as a trained and practicing artist.  These ideas resonate closely with the L'nuk philosophy, as well.  Critical thinking is dialogic, which involves co-emergent creativity amongst participant-learners.  It allows the artist and viewer to engage in a dialogue that wants to emerge from the moment when creativity wills the artist to create his/her first work of art.  Working with our hands and our mind is a gift anyone can achieve, regardless of what background we were raised in, if we have a gentle guide that enables capacity building that supports different modalities.  By creating a “safe-enough” space—the first step that a gentle guide takes, the artistic practice is nurtured and looked upon as the “critique of the soul.”  This critique takes the form of channeling and facing our biggest fears and making “something from nothing” in a period that suits our mindset.  Co-incidentally, this also represents L'nuk code of ethics put into action.  Such action, whether in teaching or making art, facilitates life processes whereby interconnectivity of everything becomes perspicacious to the participant-learner.

   

Approaching each art project with no pre-conceived notions, but with well-prepared minds, the goal of artist is to work with students as their guide towards a journey that wants to unfold.  When you engage in a dialogue with your student, they learn the art of creating simply by talking about their own process.  It is in this manner that my best instructor in my art school at Langara College taught me the beauty of broken pottery shortly after it came out of a kiln.  My short-lived devastation suddenly turned into another way of transforming a work of art.  It was not broken it was a new way of looking at art.  That experience reminded me of what my elders passed on to me when I was younger: to always leave a mistake in the works of art, with which you remember that life is not always perfect.  That teachable moment allowed me to teach sculpture using Indigenous pedagogy and ontology to teach Indigenous worldview effortlessly.  

 

Knowing these ancient teachings made it easier for me to nurture prior knowledge to acknowledge that things do not always happen as we planned, and that everything is interconnected.  L'nuk non-interference code of ethics is about putting aside your urge to tell someone what to do in contrast to supporting someone with his or her creative process.  Teaching from an Indigenous perspective allows the student to understand and embody many ancient or indigenous philosophies, such as Mi’kmaq’s, in a manner that gently expands their artistic limitations without judgment. Art is a catalyst that moves you between worlds, be it the business world or the teaching profession.  Whatever world you decide to be in professionally, having a background in the arts will allow you to engage the world on many diverse levels  

                Stay tune for upcoming events 
Labour day weekend in Antigonish at Antigonite 2021 TBA
September 12th musical collaboration at LAMP in Lunenburg. TBA
October Nocturne Halifax 2021 TBA

                     stay safe and wear a mask 

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