Building Relationship & Reciprocity through Art
Relationships & Reciprocity is a personal as well as a public ideal for indigenous artists Suzan Kostiuck and Adele ᒪᐢᑿᓱᐤᐏᐢᑵᐤ Arseneau. It’s the title of their joint show, which opens in June at the Rainforest Arts gallery, and it speaks to the mentoring relationships they share with each other and their communities.
They have both been artists from an early age; both have kept a lid on their artistic urges until relatively late in life: Adele until 2017, after a stroke ended a long string of other careers; Suzan even more recently, after mounting over 200 art exhibits on behalf of the Cowichan Valley Arts Council and working in the arts industry for more than 25 years.
As First Nations artists, living long ways from their traditional territories, their relationship forms a backdrop to their friendship and their joint show.
Adele has been a mentor to Suzan. “I really like the fact that I’ve had somebody to help guide me because… from a traditional aspect, I’m a fish out of water down here,” she said. “I’m not on my traditional land. Having this relationship with Adele has strengthened my own artistic career.”
“The relationship we have, I value so much,” Adele responded. “Because of displacement, we’ve been able to create a beautiful relationship, even though the land that we stand on is not our traditional territory.”
Suzan’s beadwork and painting, and Adele’s beadwork and appliqué connect them to their origins. It also takes them—and they hope the people who see their art—to a place that has no personal boundaries.
“My work is all about stories, so everything I do, everything I incorporate, everything is done with intention,“ Adele said.
But she’s as much clairvoyant as storyteller. “I don’t create art. I sit down at my desk, I get materials that kind of speak to me,” she explained. “The materials say, ‘Hey, you need to work on me right now,’ and I disappear, my art happens, then I come to and I have something created.”
Suzan sets out from a different perspective, but ends up in the same place. “There is something very satisfying about planning it all out,” she said. But once the planning’s done, she transitions into a meditative state. “As much as I like the planning and everything, once I’m actually making earrings, or painting, or whatever it is I’m working on, I just disappear.”
Adele’s and Suzan’s art will be on display at Rainforest Arts from June 3 to August 2. The gallery, located at 9781 Willow Street in Chemainus, is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information at RainforestArts.ca.
CSW
