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