REGINA — The 2026 Regina Indigenous artist-in-residence program has been selected for local First Nations and Métis artists.
The selection was led by a panel of Indigenous artists and professionals who originate from Treaty 4 Territory.
Diana Burton, City of Regina director of recreation and cultural services, said each artist brings a wealth of significance, including each individual's culture.
"Each artist brings important perspectives, cultural knowledge and creative practices that will offer residents meaningful opportunities to connect with Indigenous art, culture and storytelling.”
For the 2026 program, the five selected artists are: Brianna LaPlante, Lorne Kequatooway, Melanie Monique Rose, Phyllis Poitras-Jarrett and Torrie Ironstar.
This will mark the fifth year for the paid residency program, supporting First Nations, Inuit and Métis artists who focus on artistic creation, community connection and cultural continuity.
For 2026, the theme will be “belonging, kinship and continuity.” This theme is aimed at encouraging artists to explore connections to place, relationships and the transmission of culture across generations.
The artists will work on their work from June to October 2026, while also hosting public workshops for anyone interested at the Neil Balkwill Civic Arts Centre.
Once completed, each artist will have their work displayed at an exhibition inside the Art Gallery of Regina from November 27 to the end of December 2026.
Artist biographies
Brianna LaPlante
Brianna LaPlante is an Anishinaabe/nehiyaw/Michif artist, muralist and emerging curator from Fishing Lake First Nation, currently living in oskana kâ-asastêki. She completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from the First Nations University of Canada in 2023.
LaPlante works across painting, drawing, printmaking, muralism, performance and design. Her practice is rooted in community-engaged creation and Indigenous knowledge systems. Her work explores reclamation, identity, time, healing and connection. Her practice centres culturally grounded relationships and creates spaces where Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities can gather, learn and reconnect through art.
For the residency, LaPlante will create a large-scale mixed-media beaded painting titled The Future Is a Pattern We Make. The work will incorporate braided materials and reflect the 2026 theme of belonging, kinship and continuity.
Lorne Kequatooway
Lorne Kequatooway is originally from the Zagimē Anishinabēk First Nation in Treaty 4 Territory. He is committed to sharing and preserving culture in Saskatchewan and is a co-founder of Buffalo People Arts Institute. Through storytelling and hands-on learning, Kequatooway teaches cultural awareness and shares knowledge through interactive buffalo hide-tanning experiences.
His practice includes hide tanning, parfleche, leatherwork, beading, sewing, moccasin and drum making, regalia production and ceramics. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Indigenous Arts from First Nations University of Canada in 2025 and is currently enrolled in a post-baccalaureate certificate in visual arts, with a focus on ceramics. For the residency, Kequatooway will create a buffalo sculpture using a buffalo bone ash casting slip and a sacred medicine glaze infused with smudge ash and buffalo blood.
Melanie Monique Rose
Melanie Monique Rose is a Métis/Ukrainian artist from Regina, Treaty 4 Territory and a citizen of the Métis Nation–Saskatchewan. She is a long-time member and board member of Sâkêwêwak Artists’ Collective.
Rose works as an artist, curator, educator and community collaborator. Her practice explores kinship and relationships among land, people and more-than-human relations. Her work often uses plant-based imagery and Métis worldviews to carry forward ancestral knowledge and imagine decolonial futures.
For the residency, Rose will create a new work titled 11th – the place where we live, extending her ongoing series The Flower People. Using felted pieces, collected blankets and floral imagery, the work will explore identity, heritage, people, place and land while reflecting the 2026 theme of belonging, kinship and continuity.
Phyllis Poitras-Jarrett
Phyllis Poitras-Jarrett is a Regina-based Métis artist. She creates vibrant floral beadwork-textured paintings that honour her Métis heritage as one of the “Flower Beadwork People.” Her work weaves together colourful botanical imagery with gentle animal symbolism and reflects respect for Mother Earth and mindful relationships with the natural world.
For the residency, Poitras-Jarrett will create a triptych of floral beadwork-textured paintings on canvas, based on plants and animals observed during daily walks. The artwork will include one 40" x 36" canvas and two 16" x 36" canvases. She will also create a short seasonal video compilation connected to the work.
Torrie Ironstar
Torrie Ironstar is a Deaf Nakoda artist from Regina. Their practice is shaped by Deaf experience and ways of engaging through sight, body and intuition. Their work blends Indigenous worldviews with beadwork-inspired geometry, bold colour, geometric abstraction and spiritual elements.
Ironstar’s work explores identity, resilience, Indigenous futures and collective memory. Their Two-Spirit identity also informs their exploration of balance, fluidity and visibility for Deaf, Indigenous and Two-Spirit communities.
For the residency, Ironstar will create a new body of three to four paintings. The paintings will explore belonging, kinship and continuity through visual language.
