PATRICIA DEADMAN
Patricia Deadman leading a tour at the Woodland Cultural Centre, ECH Delegation, April 11, 2024.
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Patricia Deadman (1961–2024) was a celebrated lens-based visual artist, curator, and writer at the Woodland Cultural Centre (WCC) (Brantford, ON). Born in Ohsweken, Ontario, her passion for art played an instrumental role in the preservation and evolution of Indigenous Art. With a Fine Art Diploma from Fanshawe College (London, ON) and a BFA from the University of Windsor (Windsor, ON), she brought over twenty years of curatorial practice to the WCC. Beginning as Curatorial Intern at the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery (Toronto, ON); Curator-in-Residence at Museum London (London, ON); Curator at MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina, SK) and former Director/Curator at Woodstock Art Gallery (Woodstock, ON). She curated numerous independent projects and was selected for the Aboriginal Curators Delegation to the Sydney Biennale, Venice Biennale, and Basel Art Fair awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2000, she co-curated Dust on the Road with Ron Benner for Hoopoe Curatorial and the McIntosh Gallery in London, Ontario.
She participated in numerous artist residencies, including Banff, Alberta; Paris, France; Merida and Oaxaca, Mexico. She exhibited since the 1980s, most recently in Changing Hands: Art Without Reservation 3/Contemporary Native North American Art from the Northeast and Southeast, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York (2012–15), Reading the Talk, organized and circulated by the Robert McLaughlin Gallery (2015), Resilience, The National Billboard Exhibition Project, Mentoring Artists for Women's Art (MAWA), Winnipeg, Manitoba (2018). Her works are in numerous public and private collections. Patricia was also an advisor for the Mush Hole Project Curatorial Committee, Planet IndigenUS, the Department of Canadian Heritage, CBC Artspots, and has done amazing work with the Native Womans’ Healing Circle and Native Urban Youth. Her unique perspective as an artist and her years of contribution in the Indigenous Arts community, made her an important and irreplaceable contributor to Woodland Cultural Centre. Woodland Cultural Centre had recently been in the National spotlight for the restoration project of the former Mohawk Institute with the “Save the Evidence” campaign. Along with the team at Woodland Cultural Centre, Patricia represented both the history and culture of Indigenous people, and the innovations in their creative art forms for all to experience. Since 2021, Patricia had been involved in the Embassy Cultural House as an important contributor to our programs. She has contributed work to various Embassy Cultural House exhibitions, including Intercambio/Exchange (2021), Pandemic Gardens: Resilience Through Nature (2022), and Embassy Cultural House: Celebrating 40 Years of Cultural History (2023). From 2021 to present, delegation visits to the Woodland Cultural Centre were organized by Ron Benner with WCC curator Patricia Deadman. Delegations involved visits to the grounds, the collection and temporary exhibitions at the WCC. On November 5, 2023, Patricia participated in the 10th anniversary of Words: The Literary and Creative Arts Festival in London, ON. Through the Embassy Cultural House and GardenShip and State, she presented on Woodland Cultural Centre publications and joined the roundtable discussion “A Book is a World.” On December 20, 2023, Ron Benner and Jamelie Hassan coordinated the indexing and delivery of 13 boxes of Indigenous books and material to Curator Patricia Deadman and Librarian Jane Hill at the Woodland Cultural Centre. |
Drive Thru, 1995
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The Journey Thru New Hamburg, 1995
