Christi Belcourt was born in Scarborough, Ontario in 1966. Her ancestry is from the Metis community of Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta. After a brief period in Edmonton, her family moved permanently to Ottawa in 1970 where she was then raised. A Metis visual artist with a deep respect for the traditions and knowledge of our people, the majority of her work explores and celebrates the beauty of the natural world. Author of Medicines To Help Us (study prints & book, based on painting of same title; Saskatoon: Gabriel Dumont Institute, 2007), and an arts educator, Christi has won recognition for her fine artistry through numerous shows and prizes. Her work has been commissioned by the Gabriel Dumont Institute (Saskatoon, 2004), the Nature Conservancy of Canada and the Centre for Traditional Knowledge & Museum of Nature (Ottawa, 2002), and is found in the permanent collections of the Thunder Bay Art Gallery and Canadian Museum of Civilization, First People’s Hall. Christi is a past recipient of awards from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Métis Nation of Ontario. She has been studying traditional plants (identification of, stories of, medicinal uses for, names in Michif and Cree) for numerous years. She lives and works in Whitefish Falls, Ontario, Canada.
By Joanne Arnott
