SaskatchewanCarrot River artist Marcy Friesen is unleashing her imagination and taking beading to the extreme.Carrot River’s Marcy Friesen pushing boundaries with debut exhibition at the Mann Art GalleryLisa Risom · CBC News · Posted: Dec 09, 2025 6:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 5 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Artist Marcy Friesen covered two-life size mannequin in beads for her first solo show, Shooting the Breeze. (Lisa Risom/CBC)A trip to the Remai Modern art gallery in 2019 inspired Carrot River’s Marcy Friesen to shift her focus from making moccasins and clothing, to creating modern art.She remembers telling her family how puzzling the abstract exhibits were, and how useless the art seemed at first.“Then in my second breath, my thoughts were, I really need to figure this out. I really need to be an artist. My curiosity was so piqued,” Friesen said.Six years later, Friesen is presenting her first solo show, Shoot the Breeze, at Prince Albert’s Mann Gallery. It pushes the boundaries of traditional beading and offers commentary on life in northeast Saskatchewan.“I want people to come in, I want them to slow down, I want them to be curious about the art that they’re seeing, and maybe learn something about a different culture than theirs,” Friesen said.Friesen is a member of Cumberland House Cree Nation, with both Cree and Welsh ancestry.The exhibits range from a video installation that evokes themes of family, to satires of Indigenous culture, such as photos of fish with cigarettes in their mouths and beaded Indigenous sayings on them.“I call it Indigenous slang. Skoden means, ‘let’s go then.’ Studious means, ‘let’s do this’ and Bepsi is Pepsi,” Friesen said.Artist Marcy Friesen holds one of her beaded cigarettes. (Lisa Risom/CBC)She said many people understand the local Indigenous culture references she’s making.“I just come across as being humorous, or a lot of times people will tell me I’m really cheeky. And I don’t mean to be. It’s kind of a natural thing, I guess, that is happening as I’m making,” she said.Her artistic mentor, Ruth Cuthand, encouraged Friesen to unleash her imagination.“She was always telling me to bead bigger, bead bigger, bead more,” Friesen said.Friesen said she went bigger in the show by featuring two life-size mannequins covered head-to-toe in bead designs.A series of beading on Canadian five-dollar bills, over top of the face of for mer prime minister Wilfrid Laurier, tends to cause a stir among onlookers, Friesen said.”When I was beading on money, I was honestly thinking about who makes the rules. Who are the rules for and do we have to follow the rules? So I like pieces that make people think and maybe feel a little bit uncomfortable,” she said.Marcy Friesen said was ‘thinking about the rules’ when she beaded on Canadian currency. (Lisa Risom/CBC)The traditional five-petal flower is woven into unexpected objects, such as a cigarette package.“It’s still traditional in a way of me using a needle in a thread and controlling the placement of every single bead, so there’s a lot of traditional aspects to it,” Friesen said.Friesen’s work was first recognized in Prince Albert in 2024, when a beaded KFC bucket entitled Come Eat, won best in show at the Prince Albert Winter Festival Art Show and Sale.Marcy Friesen’s beaded KFC bucket won best in show at the Prince Albert Winter Festival Art Show and Sale in 2024. (Submitted by Marcy Friesen)The Mann Art Gallery sums up the show as, “a witty yet thoughtful transformation — through beading, sewing, installation, and photography.”Jesse Campbell, the gallery’s interim artistic director, said Friesen’s exhibition challenges viewers to think about the stories being told through the art pieces.“Marcy’s work is highly attractive, it’s alluring. It’s done to such a high degree of technical craftsmanship, and how she works with beads and fur, but she’s constantly exploring parts of her life — her relationship with her family, ” Campbell said.Friesen’s creations have been displayed as far away as Vancouver, Toronto and New York.The Mann Art Gallery is running Friesen’s show alongside Thread of Connections, which features works by contemporary beading artists Ruth Cuthand, Catherine Blackburn and Kaley Svendsen.Friesen is also currently an artist in community with the City of Prince Albert. She teaches beading and moccasin making in schools, prisons and at community workshops. She also mentors up-and-coming artists.“It’s just given me such confidence and that’s why I want to teach other people. I really want other people to have the same benefits that I’ve had because I’ve found my voice in creating art and I want the same for others,” said Friesen.Shoot the Breeze runs at the Mann Art Gallery in Prince Albert until Jan. 10, 2025.Marcy Friesen with KFC chicken presented as art. (Submitted by Marcy Friesen)
Moccasin maker turned artist takes beading to the next level
