About
Bio
Haley Bassett is an interdisciplinary artist of Métis and settler descent from Dawson Creek, BC. She was born in 1991 to cattle-rancher parents and now lives and works in Sunset Prairie, BC, in the traditional territory of the Dene, Dane-zaa, and Cree encompassed by Treaty 8 and the Métis Homeland.
She studied painting and drawing at the Florence Academy of Art and has been mentored by Peter von Tiesenhausen, Brendan Tang, and Genevieve Robertson. In 2020, she completed her BFA in Visual Art from Emily Carr University, minoring in Social Practice and Community Engagement. During her studies, she was awarded the BCAC Scholarship twice. She also received the Opus Art Supplies Award, an Honorable Mention for the Art Attack Award, and the BCAC Early Career Development Grant in 2020. She recently completed a residency at the Banff Centre for Arts Creativity and will start her MFA at Emily Carr through their low-residency program in the fall of 2023.
As part of her social practice, Bassett founded the Northern Arts - Community Development Program in 2019 in partnership with the Dawson Creek Art Gallery. This program alleviates barriers to artists' professional development in northeastern BC. As part of this program, she writes an arts column and organizes workshops and low-barrier art exhibitions in public venues. She became the Executive Director of the Arts North East in 2021, through which she administers the regionwide Open Sky Art Exhibition and the Peer Support Program for arts administrators. As part of her advocacy work for northern rural artists, she joined the board of Arts BC in the spring of 2022, and the BC Arts Council in 2023.
Bassett started as a painter; however, her practice now includes sculpture, installation, woodwork, beadwork, found objects, and textiles. Her visual work explores how time, place, family histories, and personal traumas converge as formational aspects of the self. Much of Bassett's work celebrates the culture and landscape of the Peace Country and Métis Homeland, and she hopes to make a positive impact on northern communities by representing them authentically in her work.
CV
Employment
2021 - Present
ExecutiveDirector, Arts North East, Sunset Prairie, BC
2021
Mentor, Bin TopArtist in Residence, Dawson Creek Art Gallery, Dawson Creek, BC Mentor, At Home Artist in Residence, DawsonCreek Art Gallery, Dawson Creek, BC
2019 - Present
Founder / Coordinator for Northern Arts Community Development Program,Dawson Creek Art Gallery, Dawson Creek, BC
2019 - 2022
Writer,Northern Arts Review, Dawson Creek Art Gallery, Dawson Creek, BC
2018
ArtInstructor, Dawson Creek Art Gallery, Dawson Creek, BC
2015 - 2018
GuestArt Instructor, McLeod Elementary School, Groundbirch, BC
Solo Exhibitions
2024
Upcoming exhibition, Horse People, Peace Gallery North, Florencia Ormeno,Fort St John, BC
2023
PeaceMaker, Ceremonial/Art, Jake Kimble, Vancouver, BC
Self-Mythologies,Doris Space for Art, Peter von Tiesenhausen, Beaverlodge, Alberta
2022
Matrilineal, Two Rivers Gallery, Kaitlyn Herlehy, Prince George, BC
2021
Matrilineal, PeaceGallery North, Richard Bell, Fort Saint John, BC
Lineage,Island Mountain Arts, Elyssia Sasaki, Wells, BC
Lineage, MackenzieArts Centre, Megan Brumovsky, Mackenzie, BC
Lineage, Dawson Creek Art Gallery, Kit Fast, Dawson Creek, BC
2020
Snare, Burrard ArtsFoundation, Kate Bellringer, Vancouver, BC
2019
Through a Forest, Kiwanis Performing Arts Centre, Shayna Hammer, DawsonCreek, BC
Selected Group Exhibitions
2023
Upcomingexhibition, Storytelling, Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, Jamie-Lee Cormier, Grande Prairie, Alberta
ISaw the Merman, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Liz de Coste, Banff,Alberta
2022
Sewing With Our Ancestors: Heirloom Fire Bags from the Flower BeadworkPeople Métis Nation BC Head Office, Carly Nabess, Surrey, BC
Dissecting Identities, Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, Manar Abo-Touk,Grande Prairie, Alberta
Leaning Out of Windows: Invisible Forces, Emily Carr ExhibitionsCommons, Ingrid Koenig and Randy Lee Cutler, Vancouver, BC
Wherethe NDNs Wear Cowboy Hats, Dawson Creek Art Gallery, Kit Fast, Dawson Creek, BC
2020
Together, Apart, Dawson Creek Art Gallery, Kit Fast, Dawson Creek, BC
Juried Regional Art Exhibition, Peace Liard Regional Arts Council, DonnaKane, virtual exhibition
Here. Exhibition Commons, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, MeganJensen, Diane Blunt, Sydney Pickering, Kelsey Sparrow, Vancouver, BC
2019
Juried Regional Art Exhibition, Peace Gallery North, Donna Kane, Fort St John, BC
The Hands Talk, Exhibition Commons, Emily Carr University of Art +Design, Zoe Cire, Dianne Blunt, Shawna Kiesman, Vancouver, BC
Residencies
2023
EmergingBanff Artist in Residence, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Banff, Alberta
2020
Artistin Residence, Peace Liard Regional Arts Council, Dawson Creek, BC
2019
Toni Onley Artists’Project, Wells, BC
2018
Toni Onley Artists’Project, Wells, BC
Education
2023 – 2025
Upcoming program, Master of Fine Arts, Emily Carr University of Art +Design, Vancouver, BC
2017 - 2020
Bachelor of FineArts, Major in Visual Art, Minor in Social Practice and Community Engagement, Emily Carr University ofArt + Design, Vancouver, BC
2016
Six Week Intensive Drawing and Painting Workshop, Florence Academy ofArt, Florence, Italy
2008 - 2009
Visual ArtsFoundation Program, Northern Lights College, Dawson Creek, BC
Mentorships
2022
GregoryScofield, Octopus Bag Workshop Series, Métis Nation BC, Sunset Prairie, BC
2020 - 2021
BrendanTang and Peter von Tiesenhausen, BCAC Early Career Development Grant, Sunset Prairie, BC
Genevieve Roberston, Peace-Liard Regional Arts Council Artist inResidence Program, SunsetPrairie, BC
2019
Peter vonTiessenhausen and Diana Thorneycroft, Toni Onley Artists’ Project, Wells, BC
2018
Jen Mann and LisaMilroy, Toni Onley Artists’ Project, Wells, BC
Board and Committee Experience
2023 – Present
BCArts Council, council member
2022 - Present
ArtsBC, director
2018 - 2021
Peace-Liard RegionalArts Council, secretary-treasurer
2019
Aboriginal Advisory Committee, Emily Carr University of Art + Design,student representative
Scholarships and Awards
2023
Masterof Fine Arts Entrance Scholarship, Emily Carr University of Art + Design
Individual ArtsAwards – Visual Artists, BC Arts Council
2022
Jim Prentice MemorialEndowment for Women in Remote Communities, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity
Individual ArtistsProgram, First Peoples' Cultural Council
2021
IndigenousArts Program Internship, First Peoples’ Cultural Council
DistinguishedAward, Juried Regional Art Exhibition, Peace-Liard Regional Arts Council
2020
Opus Art SuppliesGraduation Award, Emily Carr University of Art + Design
Honorable Mention, Vancouver Art Attack Award, Emily Carr University ofArt + Design
Early CareerDevelopment Grant, BC Arts Council
Distinguished Award,Juried Regional Art Exhibition, Peace-Liard Regional Arts
Council
Ian GillespieAboriginal Award Scholarship, Emily Carr University of Art + Design
2019
Gwyneth GunnFoundation Scholarship, Emily Carr University of Art + Design
Toni Onley Artists’Project Scholarship, Island Mountain Arts
Most ExperimentalAward, Juried Regional Art Exhibition, Peace-Liard Regional Arts
Council
2018
Ian GillespieAboriginal Award Scholarship, Emily Carr University of Art + Design
Faculty of Culture +Community Micro-Grant, Emily Carr University of Art + Design
Scholarship, BC ArtsCouncil
Toni Onley Artists’Project Scholarship, Island Mountain Arts
2017
Scholarship, BC ArtsCouncil
Selected Publications
2022
Northern Arts Review: Lynette La Fontaine, Haley Bassett, Dawson CreekMirror,
www.dawsoncreekmirror.ca/local-arts/northern-arts-review-metis-cultural-connections-5262676
2021
Northern Arts Review:anne drew potter, Haley Bassett, Musing About Mud,
www.musingaboutmud.com/2021/01/20/anne-drew-potter-reviewed-by-haley-bassett/
2020
NorthernArts Review: Donna Kane’s Orrery, Haley Bassett,
https://www.donnakane.com/2020/09/03/northern-arts-review/
SelectedCollections
Private Collection, Montreal, Quebec
Private Collection, Munich, Germany
Private Collection, Grande Prairie,Alberta