MURALS
ARTIST: Melanie Monique Rose
TITLE: Summer Sleeping (2021)
Victoria Park Maintenance Building Garage Door
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Melanie Monique Rose is a visual artist from Regina, Saskatchewan Treaty 4 Territory, and a long-time contributing member of Sâkêwêwak Artists’ Collective Inc. She attended Kootenay School of the Arts with a major in the Fibre Arts in Nelson, B.C. Rose has exhibited her artwork in both group and solo exhibitions Nationally. Her greatest honor was to receive the distinction of Excellence in Textiles in Dimension’s 2013 touring show. Most recently, Melanie was named a CBC Future 40 for her work in arts and culture. In addition to showing her work, Rose has worked in the province as gallery facilitator, story-keeper, and art instructor for the Mackenzie Art Gallery and in addition teaches various workshops at both public and private institutions.
In 2018 her daughter Meadow Rose was born and is currently a full-time mom, caregiver, and artist. Becoming a mother has increased Rose’s desire to share the stories of her culture and family and has challenged the way she creates independently and as a shared experience with her daughter. Rose is inspired and excited to see where the journey takes her as an Artist.
ABOUT THE ART
With every winter is the promise of summer. Spring is the season of hope, of return and rebirth. Man has shown that he can alter these natural cycles. The melt comes too soon for the hunters of the north, the birds do not return from their homes in the south. Land Protectors are jailed by a broken system built on over 500 years of lies and mass destruction. The children are trying to wake us up, but some are still sleeping. Summer Sleeping is a handstitched Capote worn by me placed on the landscape. It has various layers of conceptual meaning and stories. I specifically chose the white and black striped blanket to create this Capote – this colour/design was popular in the prairies for how well it was camouflaged in the winter. I thought about how in my own Metis family we hid who we were. This is something that I no longer want to do – thus I wanted it to make this Capote bright and loud and full of happiness. What lies beneath the snow is the promise of spring – this sacred bargain of continuation. I call this piece, ‘Summer Sleeping’ and it represents HOPE.