The art of communications and Woodland art are her talents and she’s flourished where she came from. Jacinda Brisson grew up in Red Lake, Ontario where she still lives. Her community connections are with Constance Lake First Nation.

Brisson is an artist who has been doing Woodland art for a decade after starting in high school. She’s loved art since she was little and she defined her style as she got older. Outside of art, she works in communications professionally. She works creatively in graphic design and digital art.

Motivating her along the way has been Brisson’s family. While some have discouraged her from the arts saying that it’s not a very lucrative career path, her parents have stood firm alongside her. Cheering her on as she completes projects, visiting her when she works on murals, they are her biggest fans.

As far as education goes, Brisson got her Bachelor of Arts, completing a double major in Visual Art and Indigenous Studies at University of Western Ontario. Making art in an academic setting was challenging for her, but she learned the principles and basics and came home inspired and improved. “I think I found a lot of growth just coming back to this area, to the land,” she recalls.

Thinking of her experience going to school away from home, she says, “It all comes from your own passion. If you really want to do it, you just have to keep going and I really wanted to finish it. I was really determined. So even though it’s hard, you just find the right people that can support you, and make connections at home, just to be reminded that you still have support there and it helps.”

When it comes to obstacles, typically Brisson shuts down and tries to deal with things herself but she’s learned that sharing is usually a better way to handle things. Expressing her thoughts and feelings through her art has been helpful as a way to process things. “Hard emotions, but also good emotions, like love, sometimes that's really hard to share too. The nice thing is, with art, you can put those emotions into whatever you're creating, and it's a way to express that,” she explains. Even the methodology of splatter when angry or long brushstrokes when peaceful can convey emotion.

If she could share a message with her younger self it would be during her experience in school, a time of growth. She would say, “It's hard in the moment, but you just have to keep going and find the people that are going to support you through it, and keep them close to you. Then, you just have to keep going to get that support. Once you're through it, on the other side, you're going to have a lot of growth, and a lot to look back on.”

Thinking about maintaining her mental wellbeing, Brisson takes breaks when she needs to, and recognizes when she isn’t doing well. She knows sometimes big feelings can build up quickly or sometimes they hit all at once. She’s taken breaks from her art as long as six months to a year depending on her life circumstances. She encourages talking to people about difficult emotions. She knows she can be hard on herself but she finds good support from others.

One of her favourite things to create is moose. Between their size and their antlers, they are a beautiful animal to Brisson. Where she lives, there are moose all over and they hunt it and eat moose stew. She likes to draw moose, but she also likes to make art from any plants, animals, lakes, and birds.  

Thriving as a Woodland artist and Communications professional, Jacinda Brisson is shining from her home community of Red Lake, Ontario. While she went to school away from home, she has been able to draw inspiration in her artistry from her homelands. With her family cheering her on, she’s continuing on with her artistic practice a decade after she first started.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.