About
Bio
HALEY BASSETT
Haley Basset is an interdisciplinary artist of Red River Métis and settler descent from Treaty 8 and the Métis Homeland, also known as BC’s Peace River Region. She is a registered citizen of Métis Nation BC. Her visual practice incorporates locally harvested natural materials and found objects and spans various mediums, including painting, sculpture, installation, beadwork, and textile arts.
Drawing on her cultural background, the artist’s multifaceted practice explores the connection between self and land, hybridity, and identity. Having grown up in a remote area of northeast BC, her artistic approach is deeply rooted in a sense of place. As the daughter of settler farmers, Indigenous hunters, and horsemen, the artist grapples with conflicting inherited relationships with the land.
Employing an autoethnographic lens, she connects personal experiences with the systemic forces that have shaped her and distanced her from her culture. Her work addresses this sense of distance and longing for cultural grounding through improvised regalia, iconography, and contemporary customary items that reflect her hybrid and contradictory selfhood, as well as a contemporary Métis experience.
CV
Employment
2025 - Present
Sessional Instructor, Northwestern Polytechnic, Grande Prairie, Alberta
2021 - 2024
ExecutiveDirector, Arts North East, Sunset Prairie, BC
2023 – 2024
Mentor,Indigenous Artist in Residence Program, Nawican Friendship Centre and Dawson Creek Art Gallery, DawsonCreek, BC
BeadingInstructor, Northern Lights College, Indigenous Education Program
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 - 2023
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
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
Selected Mentorships
2022
Gregory Scofield, Octopus Bag Workshop Series, Métis Nation BC
2020 - 2021
Brendan Tang and Peter von Tiesenhausen, BCAC Early Career Development Grant
Genevieve Roberston, Peace-Liard Regional Arts Council Artist in Residence Program
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025
Upcoming Exhibition, Galerie Nicola Robert, Toronto, Ontario
2024
Bead Soup, Peace Gallery North, Florencia Ormeno, Fort St John, BC
2023
Peace Maker, Ceremonial/Art, Jake Kimble, Vancouver, BC
2022
Matrilineal, Two Rivers Gallery, Kaitlyn Herlehy, Prince George, BC
2021
Lineage, Island Mountain Arts, Elyssia Sasaki, Wells, BC
2020
Snare, Burrard Arts Foundation, Kate Bellringer, Vancouver, BC
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
Sticks and Thorns, Norberg Hall, Shannon Norberg, Calgary, Alberta
Creation Stories, Contemporary Native Art Biennial, Jake Kimble, Montreal, Quebec
2023
I Saw the Merman, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Liz de Coste, Banff, Alberta
2022
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
2020
Here. Exhibition Commons, Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Megan Jensen, Diane Blunt, Sydney Pickering, Kelsey Sparrow, Vancouver, BC
Selected 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
Selected Board & Committee Experience
2023 – Present
BC Arts Council, council member
2022 - 2023
Arts BC, director
2018 - 2021
Peace-Liard Regional Arts Council, secretary-treasurer
Selected Publications
2023
Leaning Out of Windows, Emily Carr University of Art + Design
Selected Awards
2023
Graduate Scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
2023
Master of Fine Arts Entrance Scholarship, Emily Carr University of Art +Design
2020
Early Career Development Grant, BC Arts Council
2020
Opus Art Supplies Graduation Award
Selected Collections
Art Bank, Canada Council for the Arts, Ottawa, Ontario
PrivateCollection, Montreal, Quebec
Private Collection, Toronto, Ontario
Private Collection, Munich, Germany
