By: Shannon Monk, KMKNO
As part of our exploration of Mi’kmaw Cultural Tourism in Nova Scotia, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people. One of those individuals is Loretta Gould, a Mi’kmaw artist from We’koqma’q, in beautiful Unama’ki, Nova Scotia. Recently, Loretta and I had a chance to have a wonderful phone chat and she told me all about how she came to work in the Cultural Tourism industry. Here’s a bit of that chat:
Loretta always thought of herself as a quilter. She had been making gorgeous homemade quilts featuring beautiful Mi’kmaw images for many years, when, one day, her sewing machine broke. Her daughter Shianne, who was in high school at the time, had been creating her own artwork and suggested to her mother that she try painting. Loretta said no as she felt she wasn’t a painter, rather her love and skills were in quilting.
Around the same time, Loretta’s friend David J. Brooks, a well-known visual artist from Sipekne’katik introduced her to Rolf Bouman, the founder of Friends United. He thought Rolf might be interested in purchasing some of Loretta’s locally famous quilts. While Rolf is a collector of Indigenous artwork as well as a friend and supporter of Indigenous artists, he wasn’t initially interested in looking at the quilts as he had some preconceived notions of what quilting was. So, when Rolf finally looked at Loretta’s quilts, he was dumbstruck. They were artistic and exquisite. He promptly bought three, and then asked Loretta if she could paint. She said no. He then asked if she would try. Again, she said no. She was a quilter, not a painter.
But that pesky sewing machine was still broken – and Rolf was persuasive. He asked Loretta if she would consider painting if he provided her with all the art supplies she would need. At this point, Loretta figured if she wasn’t able to quilt, she might as well try and do something else, and so she took the paint supplies home.
About three weeks later, Loretta brought her painting back to Rolf. He looked at it, and again, was dumbstruck. “You painted this?”, he asked. “Who taught you?” Loretta told him no one showed her, she just did it. “It’s like I already knew,” she said. It was clear that Loretta had a very special gift.
From this time on, Loretta painted, drawing inspiration from many different sources. Her paintings are inspired by spirit, by community, by nature, by her ancestors, by her family and children, by dreams, and by the stories and teachings of the Mi’kmaq. Her use of colour is vibrant and passionate and full of life. Her artwork draws you in and tells you stories and connects you in a way that is visceral and timeless.
In our discussion, Loretta shared with me the story of the creation of one of her paintings called The Tree of Life. She said it combines two things she loves, drawing trees and watching gymnastics. One day she was watching gymnastics with her daughter while drawing a ballerina. Suddenly, the ballerina started taking on the form and movement of a tree; the two energies merged, creating the basis of this breathtaking painting.
Regardless of where her ideas come from, Loretta is meticulous about doing her research and talking to experts. For example, some of Loretta’s paintings feature cradleboards. While we don’t often see cradleboards used today in Mi’kmaw communities, Loretta researched the historical use of cradleboards by Mi’kmaq. Another example she shared was the research on her canoe images, to ensure they are historically accurate. She said her artwork is one small way she can help to bring back the stories in an authentic way.
As Loretta produced more artwork, she began to explore different ways she could market herself. She said it was a lot of trial and error, and a lot of effort. She had some guidance and support along the way, including from Friends United, the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada, and the Nova Scotia Indigenous Tourism Enterprise Network, amongst others. But at the end of the day, she says, “you need to put in the hard work if you want to succeed. You just go step by step and figure it out.” This busy mother of six says one of the best decisions she made was to stay home and focus on her artwork. It allowed her to be there for her family. She says, “it was hectic, but worth it.” She has been married for 27 years, and their children are all artistic, following in their mom’s footsteps. Shianne has also sold some of her own work.
Loretta’s ambition, vision, and drive are instrumental to her success. She looked for ways to expand and diversify and leverage her artwork. In addition to selling original works of art, this meant making reproductions of her art in the form of limited-edition prints. She also produced art cards, stickers, scarves, tote bags, and most recently has been developing a line of sweaters and t-shirts. Loretta also developed a website for selling her products and bought a printer for creating the vinyl designs for her clothing line. She is self taught and says none of it was easy; there is no step by step how-to guide. She is constantly coming up with new ideas and says she also needs to do her research, noting, “I Googled everything!” Her tenacity and creativity have helped her create partnerships with different organizations who produce her work. Still, she notes, she would like to learn more and build her business confidence. This would include courses on running a business and doing online marketing. She says her biggest challenge right now is, “that there is only one of me!”
While she is trying to expand her business, Loretta also tries to be cautious, saying that “when artists put their stuff online, they have to worry about it being stolen”. Cultural appropriation and intellectual property theft is real. In fact, some of her work has been stolen. She told me how she went online one day and found a company in Texas, and another in France, mass producing carpets and bedding with her designs on them. She said she doesn’t have the money or jurisdiction to fight this, although Rolf is trying to help with this. This led us into an important discussion about authenticity.
Loretta said having a system for identifying authentic Mi’kmaw products would definitely help protect her as an artist and would help the consumer to identify and differentiate between authentic and inauthentic artwork and designs. She feels this might encourage other Mi’kmaw artists to share their work as well. Her advice to others is to keep going and not to give up. She notes that she still has so much to learn, and if she can do this, anyone can do this.
Loretta’s vision for the future is to open a facility in her community to sell her work as well as that of other local artists. She wants to be able to employ other people and contribute to the economic well-being of the community. She said everything was on track until COVID hit. Noting that while this may have set her plans back a little, she’s going to keep going. She is looking forward to when things open up again and she can welcome visitors back to her community. I asked her what she would want for a visitor to experience, and she said, “I want them to feel the way I feel when I paint”. How beautiful. It gave me shivers!
For more information on Loretta Gould, visit her website at: https://mikmaq-artist.com/And finally, two requests of our dear readers:
- If you have any photos that you would be willing to share with us to use for the purposes of sharing information about Mi’kmaw cultural tourism, we would be most grateful. This could be of community landmarks, physical attractions, special locations, events, cultural activities (mawiomis, feasts), cultural products (ie: photos of beadwork or quillwork or baskets, etc), buildings, and any other ideas you may have. We’d love to see them all. Your name, or the photographer’s name would always be acknowledged when using the photo.
- We are looking for recommendations for future featured articles. Do you have suggestions, or would you like to be featured in our monthly news article? We are looking for interested Mi’kmaw cultural tourism business owners, community entities, crafters, artists, etc. If so, please let us know!