Hope And Light

From residential school to the early days of reconciliation, artwork and family continue to be sources of strength by

- Kevin Pee-Ace

Born in 1972 inKelvington, Sask., I am a member of the Yellow Quill First Nations (Saulteaux) and the Peter Chapman First Nations (Cree). I am also a survivor of the Indian residential school system, having attended both Gordon’s near Punnichy, Sask.,and St. Michael’s in Duck Lake, Sask., for six years of my early childhood.

In 1985 my late mother Ann Whitehead moved our family out to British Columbia, eventually settling in Mission. In 1991, I graduated from Mission Secondary School, and soon after I enrolled at what was then called the University College of the Fraser Valley, Abbotsford Campus, in the Studio Fine Arts Diploma Program, which I successfully completed in 1993. I moved to Vancouver later that year and continued my education at Capilano College in North Vancouver, where I followed courses in fine arts history, anthropology, archaeology and Native studies. After its completion in 1995, I began my professional career in art under the guidance of my uncle, Jerry Whitehead. In the summer of that year, I decided to return to my roots in Saskatchewan and continue pursuing my goals of becoming an artist.