Indigenous stories shine in this Okanagan artist's work

As part of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Kelowna10 is sharing past coverage of Indigenous stories.

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Lee Claremont is a contemporary Indigenous artist who tells visual stories through bright strokes of colour.

One of her paintings, a 64” x 59 ½” canvas with acrylic paint, is being displayed in the lobby of the Kelowna Community Theatre (KCT).

“Most of my themes are based on the feminine, and Indigenous women, and the power of the feminine,” Lee Claremont told Kelowna10. “I’m Mohawk from back east, it’s called the Six Nations of the Grand River, and that influences my art, that’s not what my art is all about, but that really informs my art.”

Claremont was born in Woodstock, Ontario, and has a Mohawk and Irish background. She’s been painting for over 30 years and has a fine art degree from the University of British Columbia.

She taught at the En’Owkin Centre in Penticton, an international Aboriginal College, where she was an instructor for 10 years.

The large painting at KCT is called Vision Quest and features four female figures on their way to a vision quest, which is a tradition in many Indigenous communities.

“I had four daughters, but I lost one in an accident and that actually has a lot to do with my paintings,” she explained. “The traditional vision quest, it’s mostly for young men, they go in the wilderness to fast, and within that three-day period, they’re given a vision of who they are.”

She said using colour is important in her paintings as she likes to make them pop with complimentary colours and brightness to draw attention to various aspects of the work.

“My paintings, on the surface, are really bright and colourful, and most of my work you can recognize because of the colour,” Claremont said. “They just come to me, the colours, and the clothing, all the patterning.”

Her piece will be on display in the lobby of KCT until mid-September and Claremont said it’s been a great gift to have her work shown at the theatre.

“It’s always wonderful to have my work out there because it means something, it says something,” she said. “I could go into a deep talk about my art and reconciliation, which is all in my art, but the bottom line is, I just want people to enjoy the art.”