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OCAD U prof Jason Baerg elevates Métis voice through art and design

Three models wearing pieces from Jason Baerg's Ayimach_Horizon fashion collection set against pink background.

Jason Baerg's Ayimach_Horizon fashion collection. Photos by Tira Howard. 

While preparing for his first solo exhibition at the Indigenous and Inuit Art Bank in Gatineau, Quebec, Métis artist and OCAD U faculty member Jason Baerg was struck by the masterwork that hovered above the gallery space. It was legendary Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau’s Androgyny, a monumental canvas that celebrates the interconnected wonder of all of creation.

Jason Baerg
Jason Baerg

“Discovering the work of Morrisseau had a huge impact on my career and had a lot to do with pivotal points in my development,” says Baerg. “Conceptually, many of the things that Norval was speaking to echoed through my work.”

Baerg is known for his new media installations, his dedication to community development and passion for raising the visibility of Métis people and culture. Figuratively, and literally, he wears many hats as a Cree Métis curator, educator, visual artist and fashion designer.

Named as ‘one of the five Indigenous fashion designers you need to know’ by Elle Canada and singled out as one of fifteen artists to know from last year’s Santa Fe Indian Market, by Vogue magazine, Baerg has been painting, drawing and designing since an early age.

A self-described introverted spirit as a youngster, Baerg spent most of his early years creating. “For me, I think I was innately creative, but I think the fact that I grew up in a time where Two-Spirit was really oppressed, probably amplified my need to use my voice,” says Baerg.

“Our Indigenous values traditionally embraced Two-Spirit, but the residential schools impacted us with a lot of shame, which includes homophobia,” adds Baerg. “For the majority of my childhood, I was living in the shadows.”

But these hardships led to the development of a strong voice and much lauded creative success. “As a Master’s student studying at a university in New Jersey, they didn’t have the aptitude to understand how to deal with an Indigenous perspective,” says Baerg. “It challenged me intensely and amped up my work. I had to turn up the volume, because [they] weren’t hearing me and I think that served my voice… and I’m grateful, I’m thankful I was put into that situation.”

That strong voice is being heard across the country and beyond. Fostering his commitment to community, Baerg co-founded The Shushkitew Collective and The Métis Artist Collective. A registered member of the Métis Nations of Ontario, Baerg serves his community as an Indigenous activist, curator, educator, and interdisciplinary artist. He has also served as volunteer Chair for such organizations as the Indigenous Curatorial Collective and the National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition.

“Sadly, there is a Métis inequity in the Indigenous arts,” says Baerg. “One of the things I focus on in advocacy work is to create pathways for myself and other Métis people. Right now, at The National Gallery of Canada, we’re less than two percent of that Indigenous bundle,” he adds.

“It’s about time we champion, hear, and see, our Métis people being represented not only in collections, but in exhibitions,” says Baerg.

Baerg’s curatorial contributions and solo exhibitions are widespread, with the latest, a touring survey of his work during the last 25 years, in Thunder Bay, Ontario: Tawâskweyâw ᑕᐋᐧᐢᑫᐧᔮᐤ: A Path or Gap Among the Trees at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.

His latest Ayimach_Horizon fashion collection was featured at the Mode Rocks Canada Spring Equinox event in Toronto. Net proceeds from this year’s event were donated to charities working to eradicate homelessness.

Later this year, his new fashion collection will be presented in Big River, Saskatchewan and then Santa Fe, New Mexico. “This year’s collection is inspired by the south, the colour red and earth metal,” says Baerg. “Last year it was all about the east where the sun rises and ceremony begins and the colour yellow, and fire. We’re just making our way through the Medicine Wheel.” Made-to-measure fashion pieces should be available in the early fall.

As an artist and an educator, Baerg is grateful to be part of the OCAD U community. “There are some wonderful people that I draw inspiration from,” says Baerg. “I see so much love and investment into people and art, and it’s such an honour to work beside them and work with them to build our creative community,” he adds.

Baerg’s professional experience outside of the university serves as an illustration to his students. “They get an understanding of what I do and what I make and how I interface as a professional and I hope it is inspirational for young people to see,” says Baerg. “They can have a life in art and fashion, and this is what it looks like.”

“If I’m asking them to be courageous and to take risks, I have to be that person, too.”