Elliptical Lineages Artist Spotlight - Hali Heavy Shield
Posted on
July 07, 2025
Elliptical Lineages presents the work of artists that engage in the creative practices of a family member or those whom they consider kin. Curated by Jacqueline Bell, Director, Walter Phillips Gallery and Collections at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Elliptical Lineages is on view from June 7 to September 7, 2025.
The exhibition complicates conventional ideas of artistic lineage and reflects on the exchange of knowledge between generations. Hear directly from a number of the artists exhibiting in Elliptical Lineages as they reflect on their work on view.
Installation view of Elliptical Lineages, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, 2025. Hali Heavy Shield, Naaahsa is an Artist!, 2023, revised as installation, 2025, courtesy of the artist. Photo: Rita Taylor.
Hali Heavy Shield
We wanted to create a space that was very inviting and interactive. I think it creates a feeling of being home or an extension of home, which is really my experience with art. My mom's art studio is at home, so I feel like it's an extension of that.
Hali Heavy Shield
Installation view of Elliptical Lineages, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, 2025. Hali Heavy Shield, Naaahsa is an Artist!, 2023, revised as installation, 2025, courtesy of the artist. Photo: Rita Taylor.
My mom is a senior artist, and she's been practicing for her whole adult life. Her making art while I was growing up was something that I was always a part of, either by participating or contributing. So very early on, we would do things like paper dolls, beadwork, going for walks...I always remember smelling things like paint, or when she was doing sculpture, or there would be grass and paper all over. I think those influences really had an impact on me and my art practice growing up—how making art is very ordinary and a daily thing.
Hali Heavy Shield
Installation view of Elliptical Lineages, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, 2025. Hali Heavy Shield, Naaahsa is an Artist!, 2023, revised as installation, 2025, courtesy of the artist. Photo: Rita Taylor.
I think for Indigenous folks in particular, art is not mutually exclusive from daily life. It's so much a part of what you do every day.
Hali Heavy Shield
About Hali Heavy Shield
Hali Heavy Shield/ Nato’yi’kina’soyi-Holy Light that Shines Bright (PhD) is a multidisciplinary artist, author, mentor and emerging curator from the Kainai Nation (Blood Tribe) in Southern Alberta. She is the first Blackfoot woman to earn a PhD from Iniskim, the University of Lethbridge, where her research and art practice include themes of identity, history, community, and Blackfoot pedagogy. Her research and creative projects center on Blackfoot storytelling traditions, and visual culture, with a focus on healing, land-based knowledge, and intergenerational learning.
Heavy Shield’s art spans mural work, beadwork, poetry, illustration, and digital media. Her work has been exhibited at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge; the Art Gallery of Alberta, Edmonton; and various public art spaces throughout southern Alberta. She is also the author and illustrator of a children’s book inspired by her mother, Faye HeavyShield, an internationally renowned artist. Their shared experiences have deeply influenced Hali’s creative path, highlighting the importance of family, tradition, and the transmission of knowledge through art. In addition to her studio and literary work, Hali is a passionate educator, committed to supporting youth and artists through culturally responsive teaching and creative empowerment.
Elliptical Lineages
Walter Phillips Gallery at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
107 Tunnel Mtn Drive, Banff
June 7 to September 7, 2025
FREE