Jude Norris

Jude Norris is a Plains Cree/Anishnawbe/Metis Nation multi-disciplinary First Nations artist. Jude’s work focuses on relationship—to self, others, animal world, earth, culture, community, territory, technology, spirit world, time/timelessness, and the ‘Great Mystery’—and the placement of those relationships in contemporary situations. Jude creates from the very particular vantage point of an Indigenous woman living in post-modern Western society. She expands these personal experiences into work that embodies Indigenous expression and vision, yet is broadly accessible and relevant. Her work often mirrors the curious balancing act between the Indigenous and Immigrant worlds and paradigms which every First Nations person traverses. Educated in both Indigenous and Western creative traditions and genres, Jude employs elements of  ‘Native’ material, language, creative practice, and iconography with those of Western technology, art practice and theory, and language. She creates dynamic and signature combinations of the traditional, the organic, and the digital.

Created from the traditional perspective of connection rather than separation, Jude takes an empathic approach her use of a variety of media, She employs the unique qualities of traditional and new media technologies to continue Indigenous embrace of oral storytelling forms and a prayerful approach to creation. Her work draws constantly from a foundation of ancient Aboriginal perspective, yet also pushes the boundaries of Contemporary Western new-media practices. Jude’s work is strongly aesthetic and symbolic. She often combines sensual natural forms or objects with technically manufactured materials and/or media, focusing on and at times juxtaposing their physical and metaphoric properties to create visual intrigue, cultural introspection and celebration, and ultimately, objects or environments that are imbued with 'good medicine.'

Jude is a recipient of the prestigious Chalmer’s Arts Fellowship, and has received awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council. Her work has been screened and exhibited internationally, and can be found in the collections of major museums across Turtle Island. In recent years, Jude Norris has refocussed on her original medium, painting, and creates this work as Winter Brown.

Jude Norris, 2023