Display Name
Haley Bassett
Bio
Haley Bassett is an interdisciplinary artist of Métis and Eastern European 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 May 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 Distinguished Award from the Juried Regional Art Exhibition and the BCAC Early Career Development Grant in 2020.
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 is designed to alleviate barriers to artistic professional development in the Peace Region. 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 Peace-Liard Regional Arts Council in September 2021.
Bassett started out as a painter; however, her practice now includes sculpture, installation, 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 Region, and she hopes to make a positive impact on northern communities by representing them authentically in her work.
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 May 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 Distinguished Award from the Juried Regional Art Exhibition and the BCAC Early Career Development Grant in 2020.
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 is designed to alleviate barriers to artistic professional development in the Peace Region. 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 Peace-Liard Regional Arts Council in September 2021.
Bassett started out as a painter; however, her practice now includes sculpture, installation, 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 Region, and she hopes to make a positive impact on northern communities by representing them authentically in her work.
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