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

Executive Director, Arts North East, Sunset Prairie, BC

2021

Mentor, Bin Top Artist in Residence, Dawson Creek Art Gallery, Dawson Creek, BC Mentor, At Home Artist in Residence, Dawson Creek Art Gallery, Dawson Creek, BC           

2019 - Present

Founder / Program 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

Art Instructor, Dawson Creek Art Gallery, Dawson Creek, BC

Solo Exhibitions

2024

Upcoming exhibition, Bead Soup, Peace Gallery North, Florencia Ormeno, Fort St John, BC

2023

Peace Maker, 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, Peace Gallery 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 Arts Foundation, Kate Bellringer, Vancouver, BC

2019 

Through a Forest, Kiwanis Performing Arts Centre, Shayna Hammer, Dawson Creek, BC

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024

Upcoming Exhibition, Norberg Hall, Shannon Norberg, Calgary, Alberta

Upcoming Exhibition, Contemporary Native Art Biennial, Jake Kimble, Montreal, Quebec

Warm in Our Heritage, Amelia Douglas Institute, Carly Nabess, Surrey, BC

2023

Storytelling, Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, Jamie-Lee Cormier, Grande Prairie, Alberta

I Saw the Merman, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Liz de Coste, Banff,Alberta

2022

Sewing With Our Ancestors: Heirloom Fire Bags from the Flower Beadwork People, 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 Exhibitions Commons, Ingrid Koenig and Randy Lee Cutler, Vancouver, BC

Where the 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, Donna Kane, virtual exhibition

Here. Exhibition Commons, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Megan Jensen, 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

Emerging Banff Artist in Residence, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Banff, Alberta

2020

Artist in 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

Master of Fine Arts, Emily Carr University of Art +Design, Vancouver, BC

2017 - 2020

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Major in Visual Art, Minor in Social Practice and Community Engagement, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, BC

2016

Six Week Intensive Drawing and Painting Workshop, Florence Academy of Art, Florence, Italy

2008 - 2009

Visual Arts Foundation Program, Northern Lights College, Dawson Creek, BC

Mentorships

2023

Kaija Heitland, Métis Gauntlets Workshop Series, Métis Nation BC, Sunset Prairie, BC

2022

Gregory Scofield, Octopus Bag Workshop Series, Métis Nation BC, Sunset Prairie, BC

2020 - 2021

Brendan Tang and Peter von Tiesenhausen, BCAC Early Career Development Grant, Sunset Prairie, BC

Genevieve Roberston, Peace-Liard Regional Arts Council Artist in Residence Program, Sunset Prairie, BC

2019

Peter von Tiessenhausen and Diana Thorneycroft, Toni Onley Artists’ Project, Wells, BC

2018

Jen Mann and Lisa Milroy, Toni Onley Artists’ Project, Wells, BC

Board and Committee Experience

2023 – Present

BC Arts Council, council member

2022 - 2023

Arts BC, director

2018 - 2021

Peace-Liard Regional Arts Council, secretary-treasurer

2019

Aboriginal Advisory Committee, Emily Carr University of Art + Design,student representative

Scholarships and Awards

2023

Scholarship, BC Arts Council 

Scholarship, First Peoples' Cultural Council

Master of Fine Arts Entrance Scholarship, Emily Carr University of Art + Design  

Individual Arts Awards – Visual Artists, BC Arts Council

2022

Jim Prentice Memorial Endowment for Women in Remote Communities, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

Individual Artists Program, First Peoples' Cultural Council

2021

Indigenous Arts Program Internship, First Peoples’ Cultural Council

Distinguished Award, Juried Regional Art Exhibition, Peace-Liard Regional Arts Council

2020 

Opus Art Supplies Graduation Award, Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Honorable Mention, Vancouver Art Attack Award, Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Early Career Development Grant, BC Arts Council

Distinguished Award, Juried Regional Art Exhibition, Peace-Liard Regional Arts

Council

Ian Gillespie Aboriginal Award Scholarship, Emily Carr University of Art + Design

2019 

Gwyneth Gunn Foundation Scholarship, Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Toni Onley Artists’ Project Scholarship, Island Mountain Arts

Most Experimental Award, Juried Regional Art Exhibition, Peace-Liard Regional Arts

Council

2018 

Ian Gillespie Aboriginal Award Scholarship, Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Faculty of Culture +Community Micro-Grant, Emily Carr University of Art + Design

Scholarship, BC Arts Council 

Toni Onley Artists’Project Scholarship, Island Mountain Arts

2017 

Scholarship, BC Arts Council 

Selected Publications

2022

Northern Arts Review: Lynette La Fontaine, Haley Bassett, Dawson Creek Mirror,

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/

Selected Collections

            Private Collection, Montreal, Quebec

            Private Collection, Munich, Germany

            Private Collection, Grande Prairie,Alberta

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