KC Adams

KC Adams | Pottery

My Cree name is capapiminat mikisew iskwew (flying overhead eagle woman), my mother's family is from Fisher River Cree Nation and my father's family is from Peguis First Nations. I have been working with clay since 1996 and the moment I touched clay, my blood memory kicked in and I felt like I had come home. The knowledge on how to create Indigenous clay vessels, like the ancestors did before contact, has been lost and no one remembers how to make them. My training comes from a class taught at the Manitoba Museum, a workshop with the experimental archeologist Grant Goltz and the guidance of my blood memory. Sourcing the clay, building the vessels and firing the pots all on the land has enhanced my relationship with land and water. Many people walk away from my workshop with a smudge bowl to remind them of this experience, a better understanding to Indigenous ingenuity and a stronger relationship with land and water.

KC Adams is a Winnipeg-based artist who graduated from Concordia University with a B.F.A in studio arts. Adams has had several solo exhibitions, group exhibitions and been in three biennales including the PHOTOQUAI: Biennale des images du monde in Paris, France. Adams participated in residencies at the Banff Centre, the Confederation Art Centre in Charlottetown, the National Museum of the American Indian and the Parramatta Arts Gallery in Australia. Her work is in many permanent collections Nationally and Internationally. Twenty pieces from the Cyborg Hybrid series are in the permanent collection of the National Art Gallery in Ottawa and four trees from Birch Bark Ltd, are in the collection of the Canadian Consulate of Australia, NSW. She was the scenic designer for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s Going Home Star: Truth and Reconciliation. She helped design a 30-foot public art sculpture called Niimamaa for the Winnipeg Forks and a piece for the United Way of Winnipeg called Community. Adams was awarded the Winnipeg Arts Council’s Making A Mark Award and Canada's Senate 150 medal recipient for her accomplishments with her Perception Photo Series. KC is now an author with her book Perception: A Photo Series that Quill & Quire. chose as 2019 Books of the Year.