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Michel Dumont Named 2022 Indigenous Artist in the Park

During his residency, Dumont will be creating an art piece inspired by Allan Gardens Park

Michel Dumont has been named the inaugural Indigenous Artist in the Park! During this artist residency, Michel will be working in Allan Gardens Park to develop a piece that reflects and responds to the continuous Indigenous presence in this Toronto neighbourhood. The Indigenous Artist in the Park is supported by Imagine the Park (external link) , an ongoing series of cultural events and activities in and around the Allan Gardens neighbourhood presented by the Office of Social Innovation at Toronto Metropolitan University. 

Michel is a two-spirited Métis artist who enjoys breathing new life into discarded vintage tiles by making mosaic pieces. He is a self-taught artist and occasional teacher whose mediums include fibre arts, ceramics and unconventional materials for wearable art. Working with shattered mirrored tiles is symbolic of Michel’s daily dealings with a shattered back and decades of PTSD, driving him to turn these struggles into something beautiful. As a son of an Indian Day School survivor, Michel also aims to honour his culture through his work.

Michel (web)

Image from Tangled Art + Disability, Outliers On Tour series featuring Michel Dumont.

Michel was selected from a series of applicants by a panel of Indigenous artists and knowledge keepers, including:

  • Fred Martin, Indigenous Engagement Specialist and Traditional Knowledge Keeper
  • Kaitlynn Tomaselli, Programming Manager, ImagineNATIVE
  • Cheryl L'Hirondelle (also Waynohtêw, Cheryl Koprek), Canadian multidisciplinary media artist, performer, and award-winning musician.

I have been involved in many things in Allan Gardens Park throughout my history, and I am so excited about this program. This residency is such an important opportunity for the community to understand the importance of Indigenous art to our ways of knowing and being and to think more deeply about artistic impression.

Joanne Okimawininew Dallaire, Elder (Ke Shay Hayo) and Senior Advisor, Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, Toronto Metropolitan University.

The residency will start in June of this year and run until the end of the summer. Further details on Michel’s art will be announced at a later date! 

For more information on Imagine the Park and to stay up to date on Michel’s work as the Indigenous Artist in the Park, visit facebook.com/imaginethepark (external link) .