{"id":623401,"date":"2026-09-13T12:48:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T12:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/623401\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T12:48:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T12:48:21","slug":"shane-perley-dutcher-gets-his-full-circle-moment-at-the-national-art-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/623401\/","title":{"rendered":"Shane Perley-Dutcher gets his \u2018full-circle moment\u2019 at the National Art Gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Shane Perley-Dutcher first visited the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa back in 2006, it was for a chance to meet the renowned Ojibwe artist Norval Morrisseau.<\/p>\n

Little did he know, he would be back at the gallery 20 years later, this time installing his own work, as one of six shortlisted artists for the country\u2019s top art prize, the Sobey Art Award<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"aInstallation view of work by Shane Perley-Dutcher, at the Sobey Art Award exhibition in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. (National Gallery of Canada)<\/p>\n

Speaking from Ottawa on opening day of the 2026 Sobey exhibition, Perley-Dutcher recalled how he came to meet the celebrated artist 20 years before.<\/p>\n

Perley-Dutcher was living in Ottawa, co-ordinating youth programming at an Indigenous health centre.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Morrisseau was at the National Gallery to launch a retrospective exhibition of his work<\/a>, the first ever put on by the gallery for an Indigenous artist.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

WATCH | \u2018I\u2019m glowing inside and out\u2019:\"\"<\/p>\n

Shane Perley-Dutcher brings Wabanaki-inspired art to national stage<\/p>\n

A Wolastoqey artist is representing Atlantic Canada as one of six finalists for the Sobey Art Award. Shane Perley-Dutcher combines traditional and contemporary techniques in his work.<\/p>\n

Perley-Dutcher was invited to bring a group of young people to meet Copper Thunderbird, as Morrisseau was also known.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, they had no idea who he was,\u201d said Perley-Dutcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew full well who he was, and I was like, ‘Wow, yes, we’re going.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\"aGroundbreaking artist Norval Morrisseau in 2006 at the launch of a restrospective exhibition of his work at the National Gallery of Canada. It was the first retrospective of an Indigenous artist mounted by the gallery. (CBC)<\/p>\n

The group showed up \u201cwithout hesitation,” said Perley-Dutcher, and \u201chad the honour\u201d of spending some time with the celebrated painter and printmaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat, to me, changed my whole world,\u201d recalled Perley-Dutcher.<\/p>\n

Seeing an Indigenous artist celebrated by the country\u2019s largest art gallery opened a new world of possibilities for Perley-Dutcher, who himself was a practising artist hailing from Neqotkuk, or Tobique First Nation, in New Brunswick.<\/p>\n

The experience allowed Perley-Dutcher to imagine himself and his work on the national stage.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

And 20 years later, the experience makes his participation in the 2026 Sobey Art Award exhibition a \u201cfull-circle moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merging traditional and contemporary techniques<\/p>\n

Perley-Dutcher\u2019s art practice is inspired by traditional Wolastoqey and Wabanaki culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a young boy, he learned to make black ash baskets and found himself \u201cin trouble in math class for carving totem poles out of my pencils, because one of the native art instructors taught me how to use a knife to carve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perley-Dutcher later attended the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design where he learned metal and silversmithing, which he now incorporates with traditional forms like black ash basketry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"aShane Perley-Dutcher’s piece, The Crown, 2024, is on display as part of the 2026 Sobey Art Award exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada. (Michael Patten\/National Gallery of Canada)<\/p>\n

His Sobey award exhibit is \u201ccentred around the metal basket and applying the metal as a new way of preserving traditional knowledge,\u201d said Perley-Dutcher.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasketry was so important to the Indigenous peoples of the Wabanaki territory,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really is a symbol of their resiliency, their survival, their ingenuity \u2026\u00a0and how they survived.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Do I still do art?\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long road for Perley-Dutcher to see the success he is now experiencing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At one low point, the artist found himself \u201calmost homeless\u201d in New Brunswick, unable to make ends meet with his art practice and odd jobs.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Do I still do art? Do I not? What do I do?\u2019\u201d he recalled.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He packed up and headed west, landing in Ottawa, where there was a larger market for his jewelry work.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2008, he produced a silver pin to commemorate the residential school apology delivered by then prime minister Stephen Harper.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was proud to have my pin on the survivors that were actually there to witness it,\u201d said Perley-Dutcher, \u201cand for those who saw that as a healing moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around the time his daughter started learning Ojibwe in school, Perley-Dutcher and his wife realized, \u201cIf our daughter’s going to speak an Indigenous language, it should be our own.\u201d<\/p>\n

So the family returned home to Neqotkuk.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can’t go anywhere else in the world and get my culture,\u201d said Perley-Dutcher.<\/p>\n

\"AShane Perley-Dutcher uses contemporary metalsmithing techniques, as well as traditional knowledge of Wabanaki basketry. (Courtesy of National Gallery of Canada)Milestone for N.B. artists<\/p>\n

At Gallery on Queen<\/a> in Fredericton, director Nadia Khoury carries some of Perley-Dutcher\u2019s work, and in recent years has placed four pieces \u201cinto major collections nationally and internationally.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sobey Art Award can be career-changing, she said, not only for the winner but also for the six shortlisted artists and the 30 longlisted artists before them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The winner of the Sobey Art Award will receive $100,000, while shortlisted and longlisted artists receive awards of $25,000 and $10,000, respectively.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

This year marked a milestone for New Brunswick artists, said Khoury, as three of the five Atlantic region longlist nominees hailed from the province.<\/p>\n

\"AGallery on Queen director Nadia Khoury says the Sobey Art Award can help the careers of shortlisted and longlisted artists. (CBC)<\/p>\n

Even her gallery\u2019s association with Perley-Dutcher has brought opportunities her way, she said.<\/p>\n

After outreach from Art Toronto, the Fredericton gallery will attend the country\u2019s largest art fair this year.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many years, the Atlantic provinces were a little bit forgotten in a way, \u201d said Khoury, but lately things have changed with \u201ca lot of amazing things happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also been an \u201cawakening\u201d when it comes to Indigenous art across the country, said Khoury.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIndigenous art has a strong place in the Canadian scene,\u201d said Khoury.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now being recognized and honoured to where it should have been for years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Glowing inside and out\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe art world is such a roller-coaster of a ride,\u201d said Perley-Dutcher.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to really appreciate the moments where you’re celebrated, and you have to learn from the moments when you may not get the attention that you feel like you deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n

After three decades of making art, Perley-Dutcher is appreciating the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo actually be here now in the National Art Gallery, you know, it feels really good \u2026 I’m glowing inside and out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2026 Sobey Art Award exhibition continues until Jan. 3, 2027, and the winner will be announced at a celebration on Nov. 14, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Shane Perley-Dutcher first visited the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa back in 2006, it was for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-623401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}