Huron County Museum Launches Mural by Anishinaabe Artist Jeannette Ladd

by Bob Montgomery

The Huron County Museum invites the public to join in celebrating the launch of a new mural in the museum created by Anishinaabe artist Jeannette Ladd.

Huron County Museum and Historic Gaol Senior Curator Elizabeth French-Gibson explains the mural was something they've wanted to do for a number of years at the museum. “Anyone who comes through the front doors of the museum would know we have a huge mezzanine and there was a huge space on there that was just blank and we were trying to envision something that we could put on there. And we came up with the idea to give that space to a local artist with Indigenous heritage to place a mural there that would add significance to our building and help with some of the reconciliation that we know needs to be done with our Indigenous friends.”

Jeannette Ladd is an Anishinaabe-kwe from Saugeen First Nation in the Saugeen Ojibway Territory. She graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor's Degree in Architecture. She says throughout her life, she was always drawn to expressing her thoughts and experiences through art. “I love creating pieces of art, it gives me an outlet to express myself and I love learning and working on pieces to honour my culture. Through the mural, I wanted to show that our love and respect for Mother Earth, Turtle Island, is necessary to ensure that we have a world for future generations. The piece shows that we are all connected to the sun, moon, stars, nature, and water, which need to work in harmony to provide a good life for everyone and everything.” 

French-Gibson says it's a very large painting, about twelve feet long and Ladd completed it over a number of weekends. The mural is painted directly onto the wall and French-Gibson has told Ladd she has no plans to take it down and it will be there for at least the next ten to fifteen year.

Ladd will be at the museum on Saturday, March 9th at 1:00 PM to talk about her mural. To celebrate the mural, prints of Ladd’s art will be available for purchase in the museum gift shop, along with the children’s book and colouring book Memengwaa: The Monarch Butterfly, which were illustrated by Ladd and written by her mother Dorothy Ladd.

The Huron County Museum is located at 110 North St. in Goderich

Anishinaabe Artist Jeannette Ladd. Photo courtesy of Huron County Museum.