CV – Aylan Couchie

Education

PhD, Cultural Studies (Expected) — Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Master of Fine Arts (2018) — OCAD University, Toronto, ON
Bachelor of Fine Arts (2016) — NSCAD University, Halifax, NS
Fine Arts Advanced Diploma (2015) — Georgian College, Barrie, ON
Art & Design Fundamentals Certificate (2012) — Georgian College, Barrie, ON

Exhibitions
2023 in parallel, The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto ON
2022 every answer is correct, (EY Building) The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto ON
2020 Barbara Laronde Exhibition, Toronto Media Art Centre, Toronto ON
2019 waabandiwag, Xpace Cultural Centre, Toronto, ON
2019 niigaanikwewag, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, ON
2018 From Food To Monument: Northern Retellings, Quest Art, Midland, ON
2018 Settling in Place, MacLaren Art Gallery, Barrie, ON
2018 GradEx, Ada Slaight Gallery, Toronto, ON
2018 “very fine people on both sides” – MFA Thesis Exhibition, OCAD University Graduate Gallery, Toronto, ON
2018 Ice Follies 2018, Lake Nipissing, North Bay, ON
2017 Tonight’s Special: Bannock, Mille-Feuille and Berries, Nuit Blanche, Toronto, ON
2017 Course Credit, OCAD University Graduate Gallery, Toronto, ON
2016 Humanalia, OCAD University Graduate Gallery, Toronto, ON
2016 Wake the Town and Tell The People, Mana Contemporary, Chicago, IL
2016 The Mush Hole Project, Woodlands Cultural Centre, Brantford, ON
2016 Wake the Town and Tell The People, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ
2015 Off The Hook 2015, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON
2015 21st Annual ISC Outstanding Student Achievement Awards in Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition, Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ
2015 The Art of Living, WKP Kennedy Gallery, North Bay, ON
2015 2015 SDVA Scholarship Show, Georgian College, Barrie, ON
2015 Know|Sense, Double Door Studios & Gallery, Anten Mills, ON
2015 Print Exchange, Ulster University, Belfast, Ireland
2015 MacLaren Benefactor Exhibition, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON
2014 The Season: Baby It’s Cold Outside, SDVA Gallery, Barrie, ON
2014 Getting To Zero, the front room Gallery, Barrie, ON
2014 Off The Hook 2014, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON
2014 Hot Off The Press, Georgian College, Barrie, ON
2014 From The Rafters, Double Door Studios & Gallery, Anten Mills, ON
2014 Works by Aylan Couchie, Le Studio Gallery, Lafontaine, ON
2014 Suddenly Strung, the front room Gallery, Barrie, ON
2014 2014 SDVA Scholarship Show, Georgian College, Barrie, ON
2014 Ritual Practice, the front room Gallery, Barrie, ON
2014 By The Dozen, SDVA Gallery, Barrie, ON
2013 Hot Off The Press, Georgian College, Barrie, ON
2013 91st Annual Butter Sculpture Competition, Royal Winter Fair, Toronto, ON
2013 2013 SDVA Scholarship Show, Georgian College, Barrie, ON
2013 Works On Paper, University of Belgrade, Serbia
2012 Hot Off The Press, Georgian College, Barrie, ON
2012 90th Annual Butter Sculpture Competition, Royal Winter Fair, Toronto, ON
2012 2012 SDVA Scholarship Show, Georgian College, Barrie, ON
2012 One Night Stand, Georgian College, Barrie, ON

Public Art/Special Projects/Curatorial
2020 Wonscotonach Workshops, Response Writer, Evergreen Brickworks & OCAD University, Toronto, ON
2020 maawandoobiwag Public Art Installation, Pratt Homes, Barrie, ON
2019 Listen to the Land (with Placeholders Collective), Nuit Blanche, Toronto, ON
2019 [in]Sites, Artspace, Peterborough, ON
2018-19 Overlay of the Land/Land Is Where Your Feet Touch the Ground, Critical Distance Gallery, ASpace Gallery, Onsite Gallery, Toronto, ON
2018 Jessie Oonark (works from the permanent collection), Curator, Bovey Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
2018 Land, permanent on-site monument intervention at City of Barrie’s Canada 150 Clock Monument, Barrie, ON
2018 now is the time to see the truth, site specific installation on Lake Nipissing, (sponsored by White Water Gallery) Ice Follies, North Bay, ON
2018 #callresponse Social Media Writer-In-Residence, Blackwood Gallery, Mississauga, ON, Dec 15, 2017 – January 27
2017 Global Experience Project with Isaac Julien, OCAD University, January-June
2016 The Mush Hole Project, site specific installation (former) Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School, Brantford, ON
2016 Witnesses: Called to Action Public Endurance Performance, Art Bar & Cabaret Voltaire – Atlantique, Halifax, NS
2016 This Is What I Wish You Knew {Re}conciliation Mural (Canada Council for the Arts), Halifax, NS
2015 The Current Current, Halifax Stanfield International Airport, NS
2015 H.I.O. Big Chiefs, Pratt Homes, Barrie, ON

Awards/Scholarships/Grants
2020 Joseph-Armand Bombardier Graduate Scholarship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canada
2020 Robert Sutherland Fellowship, Queen’s University, Kingston ON
2020 Tri-Agency Recipient Recognition Award (TARRA), Queen’s University, Kingston ON
2019 SSHRC Connections Grant, Place-based reparative environmental histories: Symposium 2.0, Nipissing University, North Bay, ON
2018-19 SSHRC Partnership Development Grant, Reassembling Ontario’s “Near North”: Reparation through university-museum-Indigenous research partnerships, Nipissing University, North Bay, ON
2018 Ontario Arts Council Indigenous Arts Award Nominee
2018 Interdisciplinary Master’s in Art, Media and Design Interdisciplinarity Award, OCAD University, Toronto, Ontario
2017 Arthur Lismer Award for Academic Excellence, NSCAD University, Halifax, NS
2016-18 Delaney Entrance Graduate Scholarship, IAMD Graduate Studies, OCAD University
2016-18 Ontario Graduate Scholarship, IAMD Graduate Studies, OCAD University
2016   2016 Premier’s Award Recipient, Recent Graduate, Ontario Colleges
2015 Barbara Laronde Award, Native Women In The Arts, Toronto, ON
2015 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award, International Sculpture Center, Hamilton, NJ
2015 Excellence in Studio Award, SDVA Scholarship Show, Barrie, ON
2014 Excellence in Studio Award, SDVA Scholarship Show, Barrie, ON
2014 Barrie Art Club Scholarship, SDVA Scholarship Show, Barrie, ON
2013                 Grand Champion “Harvey Townsend Award” Butter Sculpture Competition, Royal Winter Fair, Toronto, ON
2013                 Randy Anderson Memorial Scholarship, SDVA Scholarship Show, Barrie, ON
2013                 Excellence in Studio Award, SDVA Scholarship Show, Barrie, ON
2012                 Award of Excellence in Fine Art Studio: 3D, SDVA Scholarship Show, Barrie, ON
2012                 John Hart Memorial Scholarship, SDVA Scholarship Show, Barrie, ON

Media/Publications
2019 “waabandiwag”, exhibition essay by curator Natalie King, Xpace Cultural Centre
2019 “Settling in Place: An Interview with Guest C urator Andrea Fatona by MacLaren Curator Emily McKibbon”, MacLaren Art Gallery
2019 “niigaanikwewag at Art Gallery of Mississauga”, exhibition review by Terence Dick, Akimblog
2018 “The ‘Site-Specific’ art and politics of Aylan Couchie”, Anishinabek News, February 2018
2018 Talking Art with Aylan Couchie, The Roundtable Podcast hosted by Wayne K. Spear, January 2018
2017 2017 Graduation Catalogue, NSCAD University, Halifax, NS
2017 “A Day in the Life” with Anishinaabe Artist Aylan Couchie, Toronto Guardian, April 2017
2016 “Double win for Georgian alumnae at Premier’s Awards Gala”, Georgian News, November 2016
2016 “Anishinaabe artist receives nomination in Recent Graduate category of the Premier’s Awards”, Anishinabek News, October 2016
2016 “Wake the Town and Tell the People”, Suzanne Seesman, Mana Contemporary, 2016
2016 “New Art: Aylan Couchie” Annual Artist Feature, The Coast, February 2016, Halifax, NS
2015 “Birch bark plane one of eight art pieces by NSCAD students installed at Halifax airport”, Metro News, Halifax, December 2015
2015 “2015 Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Awards”, Sculpture Magazine, October 2015
2015 “Aylan Couchie’s piece chosen to adorn Pratt Homes building”, Barrie Examiner, September 2015, Barrie, ON
2015 “Georgian Fine Arts alumna chosen to create Barrie art installation”, Georgian College News, September 2015, Barrie, ON
2015 “Aboriginal-inspired artwork wins Pratt Homes contest in Barrie”, Barrie Advance, September 2015, Barrie, ON
2015 “Artist close with her grandfather”, Anishinabek News, August 2015, Ontario
2015 “Vote for one of two Georgian artists in Barrie art competition”, Georgian College News, July 2015
2015                 “Former Barrie artist wins sculptor’s award”, Barrie Advance, July 2015, Barrie, ON
2015                 “Sculptor Award” (television), CTV Barrie, June 2015, North Bay, ON
2015                 “North Bay Sculptor” (television), CTV Northern Ontario, June 2015, North Bay, ON
2015                 “Local artist wins worldwide award”, Baytoday, June 2015, North Bay, ON
2015   “Aylan Couchie – Artist Feature” Sunday Crush, Barrie, ON
2014   “Extraordinary Experience: Carving A Grand Prize Winner”, GeorgianView 2014 Issue, Barrie, ON
2013                 “Fine Arts Student Hops to Grand Champion Win with Her Royal Winter Fair Butter Sculpture”, Georgian College News, Barrie, ON

Publications as Author/Contributor
2019 “We Didn’t Know the Monument Was So Important Until Someone Said It Should Be Removed”, CMagazine, Issue 142, Summer 2019
2019 “The Walrus Drinks LaCroix”, Guest exhibition essay for Pawatamihk (Rihkee Strapp, Artist), White Water Gallery, North Bay, ON
2018 “Zeal Without Wisdom: Rushing for Reconciliation” by Aylan Couchie, CMagazine, Issue 139, Fall 2018
2018 “Layers Over Layers” in The Unpublished City: Volume II, edited by Dionne Brand, Phoebe Wang and Canisia Lubrin, Book-Hug Publishing, Toronto, ON.
2018 Rebecca Belmore: Facing the Monumental exhibition catalogue, researcher, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON, July 2018.
2018 “very fine people on both sides” MFA Thesis, OCAD University
2018 “When Textbooks are Held Within Forest Floors”, Arts Everywhere
2018 “Appropriation” by Aylan Couchie, Raven Davis and Chief Lady Bird, moderated by Lindsay Nixon, Canadian Art, Spring 2018
2017 “Anti-Seal hunt rhetoric ignores facts and suppresses Indigenous Culture” Co-authored w/ Ian Mosby, The Globe & Mail, October 12
2017 “Let’s Start with What Cultural Appropriation is Not”, Global News, May 19
2017 “Returning Our Voices to Us: The recent debate about cultural appropriation shows that true reconciliation is not about saying sorry, it’s about listening to Indigenous Voices”, IRPP Policy Options, May 16

Presentations/Artist Talks/Symposia
2022 Re:Countering Memory, Panelist, Creative Counter-Memorializations Symposium, NSCAD University, Halifax NS, November 24
2022 Guest Artist Talk, Texas Woman’s University, Denton TX, September 26
2022 Monuments of the Future Transatlantic Partnership, Lead Speaker, OCAD University, Toronto ON, March 17
2021 Sustainability, Panelist, UND Writers Conference, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks ND, March 26
2021 Guest Artist Talk, UND Writers Conference, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks ND, March 24
2021 Subsistence, Panelist, UND Writers Conference, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks ND, March 24
2020 Presentation Matters: The Importance of Exhibition and Display in the Reconciliation Process, Panelist, Ontario Association of Art Galleries, York University, Toronto, ON, March 6
2020 Wonscontach Workshops, Presenter, Evergreen Brickworks & City of Toronto, Toronto, ON, March 6
2020 Deconstructing Colonial Place-making Through Language, moderator, NWIA Inaabandam Symposium, Toronto Media Arts Centre, Toronto, January 18
2019 Pathfinding A Good Way Forward, panelist, Cold Waters Media Arts Symposium, North Bay, ON
2019 Resistances Through Art, panelist, Canadian Federation of Students AGM, Nipissing University, ON
2019 Reason Over Passion, Re-Joyce: Wieland for a New Millennium, panelist, Canadian Filmmakers’ Distribution Centre, Toronto, April 6
2019 Keynote, Georgian College, Barrie ON, Mar 23
2019 Re:place: An Inquiry, panelist, UrbanSpace Gallery, Toronto, ON, Jan. 10
2018 Aboriginal Curatorial Collective: Global Discussions, panelist, Pjilita’q Mi’kmaki: L’nuite’tmukl tan wejkuwaql naqwe’kl International Gathering, Halifax, NS, Oct. 12
2018 Indigenous Placemaking: Making city sites places of reconciliation, panelist, Innovations in Creative Space and Placemaking, Artscape in assoc. w/ World Cities Culture Forum and City of Toronto, Toronto, ON, June 7
2018 The Dynamics of Urban and Rural Arts in Ontario, panelist, CPAMO Gathering, Toronto, ON, May 29-31
2018 Post-Reality NDN Art: Disrupting Indigenous Art and its Cannon, presenter, Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) Tenth Annual Meeting, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, May 17
2018 The Labour of Being Studied/The Labour of Refusing to be Studied, speaker, University of Toronto, May 11
2018 “Aylan Couchie Guest Artist Talk” Nipissing University, North Bay, ON, February 9
2017 “Indigenous Tattoo Resurgence Panel,” Ka’nikonhrí:yo Gatherings, moderator, Native Women in the Arts, Onsite Gallery, Toronto, ON, November 16
2017 “social media disruptor,” Art & Activism, panelist, Native American Art Studies Association Biennial Symposium, Tulsa, OK, October 25-28
2017 “glu-it: forcing Inuit art into settler creations,” Questioning the Artist: Indigenous and non-indigenous strategies and practices, panelist, Native American Art Studies Association Biennial Symposium, Tulsa, OK, October 25-28
2017 “Resilient Women Must Sing,” Pop Up Speaker, AGO: First Thursdays, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON

Arts Administration/Teaching Experience
2023 Communications and Membership Engagement Coordinator, OCAD Faculty Association (OCADFA), Toronto ON
2022 Sessional Instructor, School of Graduate Studies, Indigenous Art, Design and New Media, OCAD University, Toronto ON
2020 aabaakwad 2020 NIRIN Sydney Biennale, Programming Coordinator, Art Gallery of Ontario & Sydney Biennale, Sydney, Australia
2020 Sessional Instructor, Faculty of Art, Indigenous Art Experimentation (Indigenous Visual Culture Dept/Sculpture & Installation), OCAD University, Toronto ON
2019 Sessional Instructor, Faculty of Art, Indigenous Art Experimentation (Indigenous Visual Culture Dept/Sculpture & Installation), OCAD University, Toronto ON
2018 aabaakwad Global Indigenous Gathering Lead Coordinator, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
2018 Creation/Development of Cultural Appropriation Learning Module for 1st Year Drawing & Painting Program, OCAD University, Toronto, ON
2018 Teaching Assistant, Drawing & Painting, OCAD University, Toronto, ON

Professional Affiliations/Boards/Juries
2022 Juror, Multi and Inter-Arts Projects, Ontario Arts Council Toronto, ON
2018-20 Chair, Native Women in the Arts, Toronto, ON
2019 Juror, Northern Arts Projects, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto, ON
2019 Juror, Northern Ontario Mobile Residency, Near North Mobile Media Lab, North Bay, ON
2018 aabaakwad Global Indigenous Gathering Lead Coordinator, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
2018 Public Art Jury for Creative City Campus, Toronto, ON
2017-18 Secretary, Native Women in the Arts, Toronto, ON
2017-19 Fine Arts Advisory Committee, Georgian College, Barrie, ON
2015-19 Art & Design Fundamentals Advisory Committee, Georgian College, Barrie, ON
2015 Juror – The First Floor Gallery (Department of Culture/City Hall) Barrie, ON
2014 Director of Marketing – the front room gallery, Barrie, ON

Residencies and Professional Development
2019-20 Artist In Residence, CUSP Research Project, Nipissing University, North Bay, ON
2019 Sculpture Mentor, ᑯᐦᐹᑌᔨᑖᑯᓯᐃᐧᐣ | the act of being thought of as contemptible (artist Joe Wood), White Water Gallery, North Bay ON
2018 Facilitator, Oral Histories Wikipedia Workshop programming as part of From Food to Monument: Northern Retellings, Midland Public Library, Midland, ON
2018 Delegation member, World Cities Culture Forum Leadership Exchange, (Topic: Indigenizing Urban Spaces through Public art/landscape) City of Toronto exchange with Sydney, Australia, October 26-Nov 2
2018 Mentor, Indigenous Curation Grant, White Water Gallery, North Bay, ON
2018 Researcher, Rebecca Belmore: Facing the Monumental exhibition, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
2018 Groundworks Indigenous Art Intensive, Residency, UBC Kelowna, July 12-28
2018 Cultural Appropriation Workshop facilitator, Lambton-Kent District School Board, April 27
2018 Delegation member, Canadian Embassy invitation and tour of Washington & North Carolina National Galleries, Washington DC, March 5-9
2018 Curatorial Intern, Indigenous Art, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
2018 Graduate Student Representative, OCAD University Senate Graduate Studies Committee, Toronto, ON
2015 Event Curator, “Keesic Douglas: Films Short Like Loin Cloths”, Barrie Film Festival Aboriginal Days Feature, June 2015, Barrie, ON
2014 Event Coordinator in cooperation with ACSC – “Getting to Zero” (World AIDS Day 2014), Barrie, ON
2014 Key Organizer – “Who New?!” Community Art Crawl (September 16), Barrie, ON
2014 Key Organizer – “Who New?!” Community Art Crawl (April 5), Barrie, ON