Yay! I have finally completed my 5 year long Concurrent – Bachelor of Education (Artist in Community Education Concentration) program at Queen’s University! I have earned my two Intermediate – Senior teachable subjects in Visual Arts and First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Studies. I have grown a lot since my start in the program in 2015. I was so happy to spend the final year of the program with my sister Jasmine (BEd – Communications Technology). Not many sisters get to do their BEd together. Many call us the “Sisters in Education!”
I am so grateful for my practical and theoretical knowledge gained over this degree journey. I can’t wait to start teaching this fall!
“Desk” was Digitally Inserted into My Photograph – Windsor, Ontario
As an Art Teacher and Teacher of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Studies, I hope to take “Desk” on a learning tour. Covid-19 has taught us that learning happens everywhere in life – if we are willing to learn. The classroom suddenly became our living rooms, bedrooms, and even our cars.
We kept learning during a time that prevented us from going to the school building. I want to take “Desk” on a journey across the country.
A moving journey across our great land whereby each stop along the way invites people to sit at “Desk” and to tell their stories of learning. I really, really like school – sharing, learning, teaching, and so much more.
As the artist, I so aspire for “Desk” to remind all of us that we must not move backward – we must keep moving forward. Learning is everywhere and learning flourishes when we share our stories together.
“Desk” was Digitally Inserted into My Photograph – Toronto, Ontario
This is “Desk” in the studio:
“Desk” by Portia “Po” Chapman, 2019 – In the Studio
Po Receiving the Medal in Visual Art, BFAH Graduation 2019
2022 Faculty of Education – Indigenous Initiatives Illustrations 2022 Mural for ASUS, Kingston Hall 2021 Website Landing Page Illustration – National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 2021 Zoom/Microsoft Teams Background Illustration – National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 2021 TRC Task Force Implementation Reports Year 4 Illustrations 2020 TRC Task Force Implementation Report Year 3 Illustrations 2020 Art That Inspires Virtual Exhibition 2017-2020 Six ConEd Visual Art Practicums 2019 The Studio, 7th Annual Exhibition 2019 Office of Indigenous Initiatives – Illustrations 2019 Medal in Visual Art 2019 Thesis Installation 2 2018 Thesis Installations 1 2019 Cézanne’s Closet Fundraiser, Triptych 2018 Print Archive 2018 Two Union Gallery Exhibitions 2016 Union Gallery Exhibition 2018 ASUS Journal of Indigenous Studies – 2 Submissions, Vol 2 2017 ASUS Journal of Indigenous Studies – Cover Artist 2015 ASUS Front Desk Receptionist
Known Style & Method:
Portia’s Family’s Innovative Indigenous Spontaneous Art Form: hand drawn interpretive, storytelling images inspired by Traditional Knowledge, generational stories, community and Creation. Once drawn using a series of innate, sweeping body movements, images are printed, painted and/or digitally edited in various formats and colourations.
Preferred Mediums:
Hand Drum Making, Painting, Digital New Media, Drawing, Printing, Mixed Media, Sculpture/Installation
Current Works in Progress:
Academic Indigenous Resource Book Illustrations Branding Icons / Logo – Queen’s Faculty of Education / Indigenous Teacher Education Program 5-Piece 14” Painted Hand Drum Collection, Acrylic on Elk Raw Hide and White Cedar 3-Piece 8″/10″/12″ Hand Drum Collection, Acrylic on Elk Raw Hide and White Cedar Various Fibre Arts and Crafts Projects (Ongoing)
Artistic Professional Associations:
Member of the Quinte Arts Council Ontario College of Teachers
Collections:
2018 Print Archive, Queen’s, Ongoing
Education:
2020 BEd, I/S Visual Arts / First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Studies, Queen’s 2020 Artist in Community Education Concentration, Queen’s 2019 BFAH, Visual Art Major / Indigenous Studies Minor, Queen’s
Additional Artistic Training:
2021 Intermediate Family Studies Teaching Qualification: “Clothing,” Queen’s 2020 Needle Felting Workshop, Kingston 2015-19 Guest Artist Talks and Workshops, The Agnes, Kingston 2015-17 Spontaneous Drawing Workshop, Tweed
Awards:
2019 Medal in Visual Art (Top BFAH Graduate), Queen’s 2016 Tweed Agricultural Fair Arts & Crafts Awards 2015 Quinte Arts Council Arts Bursary 2015 Sisters of Providence Award for the Arts 2015 Best in Show – BDIA Juried Student Visual Art Competition
BFAH Thesis Works:
2019 “Desk,” Dada Art Inspired Installation (white pine/black pipe): Canadian Indian Residential/Day School Healing & Awareness Statement Piece 2018 “Blossoming Beyond the [White] Box,” Installation 12’x10’x12′ – (found & mixed materials) : Breaking Free from the Confines of Colonial Institutionalization Statement Peace
Publications:
2022 “Ways of Being in the World: The Indigenous Philosophy of Turtle Island,” Presentation Illustrations – Presentation by Dr. Andrea Clarke, University of Windsor 2021 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Landing Page Artwork, Queen’s 2021 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Zoom Background Artwork, Queen’s 2021 TRC Task Force Implementation Report Illustrations – Year 4, Queen’s 2020 TRC Task Force Implementation Report Illustrations – Year 3, Queen’s 2020 Indigenous Gathering Day, Poster Art, RND High School 2019 Indigenous Initiatives Website Illustrations, Queen’s 2018 ASUS Journal of Indigenous Studies, Visual Art and Poem, Vol 2, Queen’s 2017 ASUS Journal of Indigenous Studies, Cover Art and Visual Artworks, Vol 1, Queen’s 2016 Chapman, Portia: “A message from Portia Chapman, 2015 QAC Student Bursary Winner,” Quinte Arts Council Umbrella, vol. 26, no. 2, Summer, p. 26 2015 Logo Designer, Medigas Children with Cancer Fundraiser, Loyalist College, Belleville 2013-20 “Faith in Action” Logo, Algonquin & Lakeshore Catholic District School Board
Exhibitions and Public Performances:
2022 Queen’s University Kingston Hall, “My Creation” Mural (Permanent) 2020 Art That Inspires: The Studio Virtual Exhibition 2019 Seventh Annual Juried Art Exhibition, The Studio, Kingston 2019The Juvenis Festival (invitation), Kingston 2019 Cézanne’s Closet Fundraiser, Union Gallery, Kingston 2018Haptic/Optic Print Show, Union Gallery, Kingston 2018Union Gallery Video Screening Event, Union Gallery, Kingston 2018Artfest Kingston (invitation), Kingston 2017Rolling on Campus: Public Performance, Queen’s 2017 Agora Gallery Representation (competition invitation), Chelsea, NYC 2017 Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies Display, Toronto 2016Tweed Agricultural Fair Competition, Tweed 2016First Editions: Bookworks, Union Gallery, Kingston 2015BDIA Downtown Exhibition, Belleville 2015BDIA Juried Student Visual Art Show, Belleville
2020-21 Junior Kindergarten Teacher – Arts Focussed Curriculum, ALCDSB 2017-20 Art Teacher Placements, Visual Art / FNMI Art RNDCSS, Kingston 2019 Artistic Decorator, Dan School of Drama and Music Formal, Queen’s 2019 Guest Presenter, What Life is Like as a BFA Student, Grades 11/12, Kingston 2017 Set Co-Designer, The Wizard of Oz, RNDCSS, Kingston
Love Art by Po 