MAXINE NOEL

A visionary elder gave Maxine Noel her Sioux name, Ioyan Mani (To Walk Beyond), shortly after her birth and “walk beyond” she does. Maxine Noel is a Santee Oglala Sioux, born on the Birdtail Reservation in southwestern Manitoba. The eldest of 11 children, she spent her early childhood amidst the positive reinforcements of a loving mother and grandmother on a quiet reserve. There she learned how to draw.
While working for over a decade as a legal secretary in Edmonton and Toronto, she continued with her artistic expression as a self-taught artist. During her time working as a Coordinator at a Native Friendship Centre in Northern Ontario, she was encouraged by a fellow native artist to show her work to a Toronto art dealer. Her career as an artist had begun. Since that first one-person exhibition in 1980, Maxine has participated in several exhibitions across Canada (Ottawa, Stratford, Peterborough, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Regina, Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria) and in the United States (Los Angeles, CA, Scottsdale, AZ and Dallas, TX.)
Maxine Noel uses a wide range of media: painting, etching, serigraphy, stone lithography and cast paper. Her subjects are young men and women (mothers, lovers and dancers), and, animals of the Plains. In her work, Maxine seeks through the use of fluid images, flowing lines and subtle colours to present essential characteristics of the native people, their sensibilities, generosity and loving nature. Her presentation is fresh and distinctly modern with mystical and spiritual qualities. The flowing lines indicate strength and serenity, and the simplicity of composition and abstraction gives her paintings a unique character.
Maxine’s images have been commissioned to grace walls in private and corporate collections as well as in reports, books, magazines, calendars, clothing, costumes, and stage sets. She was one of the first artists to work with the Canada and Africa Village Twinning Programs with both ISAID and CUSO, contributing both her time and her images.
It is her strong commitment to her culture that involves her in work with the Native Earth Performing Arts and the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. She works actively as a board member, consultant, artistic director, and artist. She has lectured and been a panel member at Saskatchewan School of Fine Arts, the University of Western Ontario, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, University of Brandon and the Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto.
The Artist believes that there is a common denominator in all cultures of the world. With that ideal in mind, she has participated in video production as well as television and radio interviews which act as learning tools assisting in bridging the gap between natives and non-natives, young and old.
In 2019, Maxine Noel was invested into the Order of Canada. Noel’s dedication, her commitment, her strength, and her self-determination make her an invaluable role model for all. Gallery Indigena has been proud to work closely with Maxine over the past thirty years.
“I have always been fascinated with the line—soft flowing lines that could indicate both strength and serenity. I view art as merely being another form of communication. It is as simple as that. People have a tendency to complicate art—they try and read too much into it.
“Although my Native heritage influences my work to a partial degree, I feel there is a common denominator in all cultures and heritages in the world, and it is that parallel that I portray in my work.
“Art is the purest and truest expression of an individual ...in it are all manners of things one is not always able to express verbally.”
- Ioyan Mani