Yvonne Creating Cyanotype prints, a photo printing process that produces blue images using coated paper and light. (Supplied)

By Red Deer Arts Council

Yvonne Moorhouse

Inuit artist says she feels at home in Red Deer

May 27, 2023 | 8:00 AM

Yvonne Moorhouse is an Inuit artist who was born in England and spent much of her childhood residing between the U.K., Germany and Northern Canada.Yet, she considers Labrador — and now Red Deer — “my two homes.”

Labrador is the land of her mother. Her parents and her maternal relatives still live there. Moorhouse explained her Mum met her father, a member of the Royal Air Force, while in the North. They married and she moved back to England with him, eventually transferring to other bases in Europe.

As a child, Moorhouse would regularly travel between the densely populated London area and the remote shores of Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

“It wasn’t a huge thing. It was normal for me,” she said, and helped to foster a strong connect to her Inuit culture, which in turn has influenced her art.

Moorhouse likes to create in a wide array of mediums — from printmaking to ceramics and jewelry design. Recently she has been experimenting with incorporating print images of whales and other natural forms into her original silver jewelry.

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“I’ve been told I should focus on one or two things and streamline, but I can’t,” she admitted, with a laugh. “I guess you can call me a multi-media artist.”

Collective 2023 by Yvonne Moorhouse (Supplied)

Moorhouse has been flexing her creative skills since moving to Red Deer. In 2016, she began taking various visual arts classes at Red Deer Polytechnic and hasn’t stopped. She feels this helped free her pent-up desire to not only study other artists — as she has done by earning a Bachelor’s degree in Art History, Indigenous Studies and Canadian Studies from Carleton University in Ottawa — but become one of them.

Moorhouse’s art is informed by geography and experience. Her latest work explores narratives of personal and global histories. This mostly springs from a positive place, she said — a deep appreciation for her culture, nature and landscapes.

Occasionally, frustrations will surface regarding colonialism, patriarchy, residential or mission schools, and the loss of connection with her Indigenous language. But she stressed, “most of my art is thankful… I try not to make it too dark.”

Moorhouse is part of Inuit Futures in Arts Leadership: The Pilimmaksarniq / Pijariuqsarniq. This program, run through the Inuit Art Foundation and Concordia University, provides mentorship and training opportunities to Inuit post-secondary students across Canada, uniting them with supervisors and employers to expand their professional development. S

he said she’s very excited about an upcoming trip to Nuuk, Greenland, where she will attend Nuuk Nordisk Kulturfastival, a multi arts biennial culture festival. She will be part of a team of Inuit artists who will be painting a mural onto the wall of the public library.

Moorhouse previously worked as the Indigenous Curatorial Practicum at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, where she curated an Inuit Art exhibition, “Tusagasualaugit. Try to Hear What They are Saying, Try to Listen.”

Her works were recently seen in two local exhibits: in Exquisite Seriography at the Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery, and in Halfway There, at the Red Deer Arts Council Gallery.