Marcy Friesen: Shoot the Breeze

October 16, 2025 – January 10, 2026

Generously sponsored by RBC and support from Fresh Air Experience and the Prince Albert Historical Society

Opening Reception

Saturday, October 25, 2025 · 1:30 PM

Conversation with Ruth Cuthand at 2:00 PM

The Mann Art Gallery is proud to present Shoot the Breeze, a solo exhibition by Marcy Friesen.

As part of the opening reception, we invite you to a special conversation between Marcy Friesen and Ruth Cuthand. The two artists first met in 2018 when Marcy was seeking an evaluation of her work and Ruth was looking for a mentee. Their relationship has since grown into a meaningful mentorship. In this dialogue, Marcy and Ruth will reflect on their practices, their shared experiences, and the power of storytelling through beading.

About the Exhibition

Marcy Friesen’s artwork is an extension of her life: she beads to share memories, to laugh, to heal, and to reflect friendships and family bonds. Shoot the Breeze showcases her expansive practice of personal expression through beading. From sentimental stories steeped in her heart to seemingly ordinary household objects, Marcy transforms materials with wit, tenderness, and care. Through beading, sewing, installation, and photography, she invites us into a vibrant worldview shaped by possibility, openness, and kindness.

As part of the opening reception for Shoot the Breeze, join us for a conversation with Marcy Friesen and Ruth Cuthand. The two artists met in 2018, when Marcy was seeking an evaluation of her work and Ruth was in search of a mentee. In this conversation, Marcy and Ruth will reflect on their practices, their mentoring relationship, and the power of storytelling through beading.

Artist Biographies

Marcy Friesen is of Swampy Cree and Welsh ancestry and currently resides on a mixed farm with her family near Carrot River, SK. She comes from a long line of traditional master beaders and creative family members. Friesen has always felt the need to create, and started her career with a small business making utilitarian objects such as mitts, hats, and mukluks. After visiting the Remai Modern Art Gallery and working with her mentor, Ruth Cuthand, she changed her practice to experimenting with an artisanal craftsmanship that exists outside the traditional spectrum of beauty and utility. 

Through beads, leather, and furs, Friesen draws the viewer into an intimate experience using her honed skills and intuitive sensibilities toward material, colour, and presentation. In her practice, Marcy recontextualizes the idea of functionality, expanding expectations of cultural production and transforming possibilities of seeing and making.

Ruth Cuthand was born in Saskatchewan in 1954. She is of Plains Cree and Scots ancestry and a member of Little Pine First Nation. Cuthand received her BFA and MFA from the University of Saskatchewan. She taught at Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (now named First Nations University of Canada) at Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Cuthand developed an Indigenous Art History class for the University of Saskatchewan.

Cuthand was honoured with the Saskatchewan Artist Award at the Lieutenant Governor's Arts Awards in 2013. In 2016, she was honoured as an Arts & Science Alumni of Influence at the University of Saskatchewan. In 2020, she was awarded a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. In 2021, she received an honorary doctorate from OCAD. Her retrospective exhibition, Beads in the Blood / mīgisak mīgohk, was curated by Felicia Gay and shown at the Mackenzie Art Gallery in 2024-25.

After teaching for 26 years, Cuthand started working full time on her art practice. She currently lives and works in Saskatoon.