I Am YEG Arts: Tiffany Shaw

What do architecture and artwork have in common? Tiffany Shaw — a Métis architect, artist, and curator who bridges together art and architecture from an Indigenous-based practice. Oscillating between digital and analogue methodologies, her work gathers notions of craft, memory, and atmosphere, often using communal interventions to engage a heightened understanding of place. But that’s not all that guides her work. Her other passions? Community, collaboration, and prioritizing connection over production. This week’s ​“I Am YEG Arts” story belongs to Tiffany Shaw.

Tell us about your connection to Edmonton and why you’ve made it your home.

My mother moved us to Edmonton from Calgary when I was three, so I’ve been here since. I’ve moved away a few times to Halifax and Los Angeles, but family and great opportunities were what always brought me back. There is room for continual innovation in this city, and it’s easy to find people to help support your ideas, which I think can be rare in other cities.

What qualities overlap in being an architect and an artist? What has each role taught you about your sensibilities or values?

These two worlds inform and enrich each other, and I think film can help describe the similarities of how they overlap. With film, you have a creative process with a storyline and how you hope to tell it. In order to translate the story to film, you’ll need to have funding and then a network of people to help craft the story in various phases (pre-production, production and post-production). Architecture operates in all of these levels of filmmaking, though filmmaking has always been considered an artform.

The creative process in the architectural world is generally described as a linear process from the start to the stop of a project, and artwork (I find) has a feedback loop that builds upon itself and connects to many things, regardless of where it is at in its process. So my practice blurs all of these things together, taking the best of each world to create something familiar, but also entirely new. The firm I work at, Reimagine Architects, also tries to think about the architectural process in a circular form, giving feedback to itself. It’s fun to find ways to make architectural projects relational, rather than transactional, and my art practice has more substance around material-making methodology, giving me a stronger platform of material awareness to match up with my conceptual understanding of an idea I seek to convey. They flow into each other and amplify the result.

When you’re taking a break from a project, what will we likely find you doing?

I like to be active. Walks with friends, swimming, or trying new things. I am not someone who takes breaks often because I incorporate projects into my personal life, so even on the walks with friends I am exploring concepts, and when I am with my children I am finding ways to be with them that help bring a greater awareness and appreciation to my practice. I would say that I’m always working, and rather than a work/​life balance, I say I have a work/​life flow.

What narratives are you drawn to as a storyteller?

I am drawn to concepts surrounding family connections and listening to what the landscape around us is asking us to do. I am interested in ways that reveal or strengthen our connection to each other and other unseen forces. I am always asking ​“why are we here, what is our purpose, and what will we leave behind for others to pick up?” I think we have a responsibility to learn from what was provided to us and to share it with others.

Tell us a little about your role with Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective and what makes it special to you and the city.

I am a core collective member of Ociciwan. We call ourselves a collective, rather than a board, and work around the concept of consensus. Through the collective, we have organized exhibitions and programming that feature Indigenous artists working with a contemporary practice. What makes it special to the city is that it seeks to create opportunities for Indigenous artists to live and work in the city, rather than move away for opportunity. We are seeking to strengthen the strong culture here in the form of employment, dialogue, and learning in ways that give back to Indigenous artists, rather than take away from them.

There are many other incredible supports for Indigenous artists in amiskwacîwâskahikan that were not here that long ago that also add to this fabric of support — the Whiskeyjack Art House and the Indigenous Artists Market Collective are two examples. I am excited about the many more to come. We have a rich Indigenous arts culture here in the city that always has room for exploration. Each of these organizations does something different for the Indigenous community, which is important. There needs to be more than one because the diversity of artist-led practice for Indigenous Peoples always exists.

Tell us about someone whose support and advice have guided your career.

I have many great and impactful mentors. Wallis Kendal, who created iHuman with Sandra Bromley, has always been a constant guide in my life since I was a teenager. A few other impactful people include Marianne Scott, Vivian Manasc, my grandmother, Elizabeth King, and — most importantly — my mother, Brenda Fearon.

What are you currently working on or hoping to explore next?

I am currently exploring concepts of relational practice: How do we compensate each other for our involvements? What is ethical, and what is reciprocal? My practice is based around collaboration, so I would like to lean into new ways that allow people to feel valued for their contributions when we work together. I am seeking connection over production.

What are you looking forward to most this winter in Edmonton?

Finding my cross-country skis! I found my boots in the garage, but I can’t place the skis. Once I find them I’ll be so happy to be outside moving and gliding when there’s fresh snow.

How do you hope to help shape the YEG arts community?

I have always felt my work was on the margins of what was possible in this city. The jobs I sought to be a part of never fit right, so from those experiences I was able to craft new avenues for myself that give me the freedom and leeway to explore new ideas from an arts-based

perspective. Ociciwan was not around when I was growing up, and I can only imagine how I would have benefited from its stewardship at a young age. My public-art practice has helped me explore ways to refine design aesthetic in Edmonton from an Indigenous perspective, which is sorely needed. I want to see more inspiring spaces that bridge art and architecture together from an Indigenous-based practice, and I believe I can contribute strongly in that avenue. I have been working with Reimagine Architects now since 2014, and I believe that their environment facilitates how I seek to work and create in this city.

Want more YEG Arts Stories? We’ll be sharing them here all year and on social media using the hashtag #IamYegArts. Follow along! Click here to learn more about Tiffany Shaw and her work.

About Tiffany Shaw

Tiffany Shaw is a Métis architect, artist, and curator based in Alberta. She holds a BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) University, a Masters in Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), and is currently working at Reimagine Architects. Shaw has exhibited widely, including the Architecture Venice Biennale, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Pier 21, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, and the Chicago Architecture Biennial. She has been the recipient of multiple public art commissions, such as Edmonton’s Indigenous Art Park and Winnipeg’s Markham Bus Station. Among her public art projects, Tiffany has produced several notable transitory art works and is a core member of Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective.

Oscillating between digital and analogue methodologies, Shaw’s work gathers notions of craft, memory, and atmosphere. Her practice is often guided by communal interventions as a way to engage a lifted understanding of place. While born in Calgary and raised in Edmonton, Shaw’s Métis lineage derives from Fort McMurray via Fort McKay and the Red River.