Adele ᒪᐢᑿᓱᐤᐃᐢᑵᐤ Arseneau
Adele ᒪᐢᑿᓱᐤᐃᐢᑵᐤ Arseneau is a disabled nehiyaw and a deeply rooted Métis multidisciplinary artist, Knowledge Keeper/Elder, and advocate for cultural reclamation and accessibility. A former Geomatic Engineer, she transitioned to full-time art after a stroke in 2018, using traditional beadwork, hide tanning, carving, and digital media to preserve her family's Indigenous stories and language. Her work has exhibited across Canada, including Tāpis: A Love Letter to our Dog Kin, which revitalizes knowledge of Indigenous dog blankets. A dedicated mentor and consultant, she continues to bridge art, history, and advocacy. Her work can be viewed at MetisCaron.com
What’s in Your Bundle - Purse, 2025
Antique velvet, Indigenous designed cotton, silk ribbon, bark tanned deer leather, antique handmade button (1800’s), antique/vintage/modern glass beads and crystals, home tanned moose hide.
It’s rare that I create something just for me. Most of my work is made for others—commissions, community, teaching—and I’m do not naturally lean into self-promotion, especially on social media. This purse became an intentional act of self-recognition: a way to honour the skills I carry, the colours I love, and the flowers that hold meaning in both my culture and personal story.
The beadwork features contemporary interpretations of Blue Flag, Mallow, and the Saskatchewan Wood Lily, along with a stylized Gerbera—my favourite flower. Each bloom was chosen with care, reflecting aspects of my identity and history. Some carry traditional cultural significance; others connect to memory and place, to where I come from and who I am becoming.
I used a piece of antique velvet that had been gifted to me, along with other precious materials I had been saving in my stash. In that way, this purse is more than an accessory—it is an heirloom, stitched with intention, heritage, and self-respect. It speaks to the quiet act of creating beauty for one’s own spirit, not just for public view or performance.
This piece is a conversation starter, yes—but also a reminder to myself, my hands hold knowledge, and my heart deserves to be adorned.
Property of the Artist.
Mischief and Medicine, 2025
Acrylic painted canvas. 30 x 20 x 2 inches
Here the relationship between mischief and medicine is explored—two energies seeming to stand apart, yet often traveling together. This piece reflects my understanding that life requires us to hold both at once: playful and serious, disruptive and healing.
Fox appears here as a central figure. In many stories, Fox is clever, unpredictable, and spirited. But Fox Woman, is more than a trickster—she is a helper, a guide, someone who shows up when needed, though not always in the ways we expect. That duality is important to me. It reminds me that not all medicine comes gently. Sometimes it arrives through challenge, humour, or disruption.
Medicine, to me, is not just about healing the body—it’s about how we move through the world with intention, how we engage with what’s around us. Medicine can restore, uplift, or teach. But it also has the power to harm if handled carelessly or with negative intent. That’s the balance represented in this work: how we carry and respond to both energies in our lives.
What do we choose to focus on? Where do we place our attention, and how do our perceptions shape the meaning of what we experience? We don’t always control what happens, we are participants—we decide how to carry it.
Mischief and Medicine is about that tension. It’s about recognizing that every moment holds potential for both harm and healing, and that balance lives in the choices we make.