KC Adams (Ininnew/Anishinaabe/British) is a registered Fisher River Cree Nation member living in Winnipeg. Adams is nationally and internationally known maker with a B.F.A. from Concordia University and an M.A. in Cultural Studies, Curatorial Stream from the University of Winnipeg. KC has had numerous solo and group exhibitions, residencies and biennales. She was awarded the Winnipeg Arts Council’s Making A Mark Award, Canada's Senate 150 medal, the Ohpinamake Award, and the Quill & Quire’s 2019 Books of the Year.
KC Adams is engaged in creating an Indigenous clay community where people come together and work with clay, harvested from the land, and build vessels just like the ancestors from this territory did. She teaches students about how woodland pottery came to her region 4,000 years ago, how her ancestors built their vessels, and what they used them for.
Her own work is an accumulation of research she has been conducting on pottery made by her ancestors. Using pottery sherds as a starting point, she recreates vessels that are inspired by works made by the Indigenous People in the ancient Lake Agassiz region. She collects clay from many regions in Manitoba and mixes it with temper from rough sand and crushed granite obtained from ceremony. I use only tools that come from the land and hand-build each vessel using a method that was passed down from a knowledge keeper. Each piece is fired in a pit fire out on the land. She states, “I create each artwork with good intentions; I smudge before I start creating and I sing during the process to show gratitude. “
For more information on KC Adams, please see her website here.
KC Adams
KC Adams conducting workshop