Where We Gather, the Land Speaks
May 23, 2025 – August 22, 2025
Exhibition Details
Where We Gather, The Land Speaks presents the work of three emerging Indigenous artists, Lucas Hale, Lori Scalplock, and Elijah Wells, current and former students of the University of Calgary. Through diverse materials such as beadwork, quills, sound, and installation, the artists follow different paths across Treaty 7, exploring the Land’s role in shaping identity, culture, place, and belonging.
Curated by Sophie Garcia, an undergraduate student in Visual Arts and Education, the exhibition creates a space for gathering, where the artists’ individual relationships with the Land converge to amplify its voice. Together, their works become acts of reclamation, connection, and storytelling.
Set within the traditional territory of Treaty 7, Where We Gather, The Land Speaks invites viewers to engage with the Land as a living, active presence and to carry its voice forward.
Curated by Sophie Garcia with the support of Judy Anderson and Michele Hardy
This exhibition is made possible through the generous support of the University of Calgary’s Office of Indigenous Engagement, through the ii’ taa’poh’to’p Intercultural Capacity Building grant.
We also extend our gratitude to Nickle Galleries, the Department of Art and Art History and the Indigenous Strategies Working Group, Libraries and Cultural Resources for their valuable support.
Events
Reception: June 5, 2025 5:00 – 8:00pm (remarks at 6:00pm)
Free and open to the public! Kindly RSVP here.
Biographies:
Lucas Hale / Omhkatayomahkaa (Running Cougar) (he/him/his)
Lucas Hale is a Lunaapew (Lenape) artist from Eelūnaapèewii Lahkèewii (Moravian of the Thames, Delaware Nation in Southern Ontario), currently living and working in Mohkinstsis, within Treaty 7 territory. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Indigenous Studies, with a Minor in Visual Studies and Art History, from the University of Calgary.
Lucas’s artistic practice includes beadwork, installation, and the creation of objects rooted in personal and cultural significance. Guided by Nêhiyaw artist Judy Anderson, he learned and continues to honour the practice of traditional beadwork. Through this medium, Lucas explores themes of kinship, connection to land and animal relatives, and Lenape creation stories. By blending ancestral techniques with contemporary forms, his work speaks to the continuity and resilience of Indigenous knowledge systems and storytelling.
Lori Scalplock (she/her/hers)
Lori Scalplock creates beadwork and traditional First Nations’ dance regalia, and has been participating in pow wow dancing since she was a child. She is also a member of the Siksika First Nation. Lori is currently teaching art and fashion studies at the Siksika Nation High School and works with junior and senior high students. She graduated from the University of Calgary with a combined degree in B.A. and B.Ed. in June 2020. Lori graduated with her M.Ed. degree in November 2023. Her quillwork art collection was previously showcased in a travelling exhibition in 2020, titled Nitssaakita’paispinnan – We Are Still In Control. This exhibition was curated by Troy Patenaude and Kent Ayoungman and organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta, TREX Region 2.
Elijah Wells (he/him/his)
Elijah Wells is a Kainai animation artist and visual artist. His artistic focus over the past five years has been on his own language revitalization, the historic relationship with the buffalo, and how two-spirit people have challenges accessing culture. His artistic practice is grounded in representing and reclaiming the presence of Blackfoot/Kainai cultural histories of 3rd and 4th gender persons.
He started in animation through Quickdraw Animation Society and now focuses on painting and collage as his main media. He is inspired by traditional Blackfoot stories and his experience on the land. He has worked in the Pitt Rivers Museum in their permanent collection and has participated in various residencies at the Banff Center for Arts and Creativity, Arts Commons. Most recently, he and Jessica Sparvier-Wells co-led an artist talk in collaboration with Tourism Smithers in Smithers, BC, exploring contemporary dance and visual art processes. He is also co-director of Wild Mint Arts, a Calgary-based Indigenous performing arts company.
Elijah Wells is a current undergraduate student of the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Studies at the University of Calgary.
