A fashion show melding contemporary fashion with First Nation cultural elements was a special event held at the Chapel Gallery in North Battleford Sunday, June 29.
Featuring the fashions of Daphie Pooyak, graduate of the Yvonne Yuen School of Design of Saskatoon, 15 models showed off original creations from traditional to formal featuring toile, silk, leather and suede, plus the sparkle of lamé.
The fashion show was part of an exhibition entitled "Honouring Individual Creation."
Pooyak has been an artist since an early age drawing, painting, and sewing. Working in different media, fashion design, traditional apparel, painting. sculpting and beading, her work is inspired by her Plains Cree and Nakoda heritage. Her paintings, plus clothing she has created, were on display in the window gallery of the Chapel Gallery from June 6 to June 30.
Pooyak, who hails from Sweetgrass First Nation, says she has been inspired by the works of Allen Sapp, Henry Beaudry, Marveena Albert, Dorothy Grant, Trevor Kiitookii, and the late Dale Auger.
"These artists were primarily self taught," says Pooyak, "giving their work an individuality and unique expression."
Pooyak works directly with material from the land and she is guided by her intuition and emotions.
"I go by feeling; the feeling is in the colour. My source of inspiration has been my mother and grandmothers (Nakoda/Cree] who taught me to sew and design work that followed the traditional values of my people, the land, the ceremonies and life. I want all children to be proud of who they are and where they come from," Pooyak.
Pooyak pursues her art amidst a busy career as a life skills coach and youth worker.
Inspiration, when it strikes, she jokes, is more important than sleep.
Pooyak works with agencies such as Kanaweyamik Child and Youth Services as youth program developer and as cultural advisor and traditional arts teacher with Drumming Hill Youth Centre as well as Sakewew High School.
Through Eagle Woman Consulting, she has facilitated several workshops, presentations and outdoor camps within Saskatchewan and Alberta, featuring storytelling, medicinal teaching, ceremonial protocol, traditional arts, Native American teaching of the land, animals and plants and respect for creation.
"Teachings dealing with the environment and respect for all of creating is integral for all First Nations youth," says Pooyak. "At an early age children are taught life is to be respected and cared for. As children grow, so does an understanding of life and a persons's role in maintaining balance and harmony."
As owner of Eaglewoman Clothing and Arts, Pooyak creates one of a kind pieces that reflect Native American culture, works as a costume designer for film and television, and hosts modelling classes that bolster self esteem, teaching young people about hair and makeup, self care, modelling on the runway and in photo shoots.
She designed and fitted the wardrobe for a cast of 27 people for the 2007 short file "In Search of the Buffalo" project for Head Smashed in Buffalo UNESCO site, earning glowing reviews from one of her inspirational role models, the multi-talented educator and mentor, Trevor Kiitokii.
She was also a featured designer on the APTN series Spirit Creations, a documentary series exploring the passion of Aboriginal fashion designers to create fashions that reflect their culture, spirituality and ancestry in today's world.
Sunday, June 26 was Pooyak's first art show in her home area of the Battlefords.
"This art show is an experience of the pride that I have, that I would like to share with the young people," says Pooyak.
She had a lineup of 18 young people modelling her designs, which included pieces that married cultural with contemporary, with one of the highlights of the collection being hand-painted suede pieces.
Pooyak says she chose the June 26, 2011 collection out of about 80 possible outfits - some of her newest pieces and some of her favourite pieces. She enlisted the assistance of friends and family for hair and makeup and her mother, Jean Pooyak, introduced the fashion show.
Her daughter, she says, has always loved sewing and had her own sewing machine by the age of about seven.
