User:Jennybevy/sandbox

Gail Tremblay (born 1945) is a Mi'kmaq and Onondaga writer and artist. Tremblay grew up with an interest in how things were made, which drew her to weaving and fiber arts. Bringing in the contemporary materials of 16mm and 32mm film, she brings the traditional art of basketweaving into surprising contemporary forms. The names of the stitches and patterns she uses, as well as the historical context of filmmaking, allows her to comment on Indigenous life in the 21st century. One stated goal in her artist's statement from 2013 is "recycling film and gaining control over a medium that had historically been used by both Hollywood and documentary filmmakers to stereotype American Indians." Her titles also give context to the work. For example, the title of a 2009 basket woven of 16mm film, leader, rayon cord, and thread, included in the exhibition Five Women Artists in the Collection is, "An Iroquois Dreams That the Tribes of the Middle East Will Take the Message of Deganawida to Heart and Make Peace."

Tremblay taught visual arts, writing, Native American, gender, and cultural studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, from 1980-2016. Her artforms include multi-media visual art, installations, critical writing, and poetry.

Her artwork can be found in the collections of the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Willamette University, Salem OR; National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian, Washington DC; Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AK; and the Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR. She has been included in numerous exhibitions and anthologies concerning feminism, gender roles and the Native American experience. 