Artist Statement
On August 13, 1909, an Adhesion to Treaty 5 was made at the “Old Post” on Linklater Island in Island Lake, long a summer gathering place for the clans.
On September 29 last year I travelled by plane and boat to Linklater Island to attend a Treaty 5 memorial gathering and the inauguration of the new Island Lake Tribal Council (Anisininew Okimawin) Grand Chief, Michael Birch.
The paintings in this exhibition come out of that trip and ongoing conversations and research on the northern Treaty 5 Adhesions made between 1908-1910.
The exhibition will comprise seven or eight large scale encaustic paintings on canvas, several smaller encaustic paintings on panel and a number of watercolor studies, all painted in the last year.
I gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Manitoba Arts Council, and the Winnipeg Arts Council, and the kind assistance of Anisininew Okimawin (Island Lake Tribal Council), and the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba.
Tim Schouten, February 2025