Kaia’tanó:ron Dumoulin Bush is an Onkwehonwe/French-Canadian illustrator and visual artist from Oshahrhè:'on* (Chateauguay), Quebec. She completed her BFA in Indigenous Visual Culture at OCAD University in December 2018 and has previously obtained DECs in Fine Arts and Illustration & Design from Montreal's Dawson College.
She acknowledges that her work in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal/ Oshahrhè:’on/Chateauguay takes place on the unceded Indigenous lands and the ancestral territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka/Mohawk Nation. Tiohtià:ke/Hotsirà:ken is known as a gathering place for many First Nations, and she recognizes the Kanien’kehá:ka as custodians of the lands and waters on which we all gather and work today.
*Place names sourced from Decolonialatlas.wordpress.com
History
Since 2012, Kaia’tanó:ron has worked with the Encore! Sistema after school and summer camp programs based out of Karonhianonhnha School in Kahnawake, Qc. as a music and visual arts educator teaching students from grades two to six. Freelancing has allowed her to collaborate with various organizations from Montreal, to Toronto, and in-between such as Jumblies Theatre Company, Onsite Gallery, and Concordia University's AbTeC lab. In 2017, she participated in Toronto’s Nuit Blanche in partnership with Deanna Bowen and Syrus Marcus Ware of Black Lives Matter, in Won’t Back Down - one of NOW Toronto’s top 10 must-see shows at Nuit Blanche 2017. In the summer of 2018, she celebrated the publication of her first graphic novel and trilingual (Kanien’kehá, French, and English) picture dictionary - Hé:, Ahsennénhkha! (Bravo, le Milieu! -Yay, Middle!) published by Kawennakátste’ Mohawk Language Arts.
During her time at OCAD University, she served as the co-president of the Indigenous Student Association and was the elected Indigenous Student Representative on the OCAD U Student Union. She undertook multiple curatorial projects in order to provide her fellow Indigenous students with the opportunity to experience exhibiting their work in a gallery setting. Since 2015, she has co-curated six exhibitions, Inheritance (Dawson College), Primitive (OCAD University), Tewá:ko-Dagoshin-Otiacicoh-Takoshin-Bagamaawaniidiwag (Arrive), Terra Incognita (Daniels Spectrum), Flux Refusal (OCAD University), and her first solo-exhibition: TOO MUCH NOT ENOUGH (OCAD University).
Since graduating, Kaia’tanó:ron has worked as a freelance illustrator and arts educator based out of her studio in Oshahrhè:'on* (Chateauguay). She has been teaching drawing and image making on-line and in-person with Encore! Sistema, Kahnawake's Homework Zone and most recently, with Bathshaw Youth and Family Services. She is also the social media and daphne beads: perler/parler coordinator at Centre d’art daphne.
Her first solo-exhibition in Montreal "Moulin à paroles | Iakoteriwatié:ni | Chatterbox" curated by Sherry Farrell-Racette opened in October 2021 at Centre d'art daphne.
She recently celebrated the publication of "A Treaty Guide for Torontonians" as a part of the 2022 Toronto Biennale in which her illustrations are featured.
Services
Kaia’tanó:ron loves collaborating with clients who support and enrich the lives of Indigenous peoples and youth. Her artistic practice is diverse, including but not limited to illustration, graphic design, painting, sculpture, and curation.
She loves comics, children's books, posters, spot illustration, production design, character design, environment design, concept art, murals, drum painting, and private commissions!
Contact
Please use the format contact form or write her an email at kaiatanorondumoulin@gmail.com