Saskatchewan artist Vanessa Hyggen inspires appreciation for the land
"My main goal is that people would also come to love this place as much as I do.”
By Bryn Levy | Saskatoon Star PhoenixSitting in the front room of her lovingly maintained pre-First World War-era home in one of Saskatoon’s historic core neighbourhoods, Vanessa Hyggen carefully opens a package, removing a beaded mask that’s been packed in tissue paper.
The package is from Textile Museum of Canada., which is returning the mask — created by Hyggen in 2021 — after putting it on display.
After setting the mask to one side, Hyggen explains, in an interview with the Saskatoon StarPhoenix, that she learned to love making art from relatives. She was inspired at a young age by a cousin’s paintings, and later came to appreciate Canadian Indigenous artists like Alex Janvier while getting her art degree at the University of Saskatchewan.
Hyggen’s maternal grandmother was among the relatives from the Lac La Ronge Indian Band who taught her beadwork.
Hyggen spent much of her childhood with her mother’s family just north of La Ronge, developing a life-long connection and appreciation for the beauty of northern Saskatchewan.
“It’s my favourite place. I get homesick for it all the time,” she says, fondly recalling days spent in a canoe, checking nets with her grandfather.
Lists of Cree words and their English translations are affixed to the wall near Hyggen’s beading desk, drawing the eye as one passes through the kitchen.
She still occasionally tunes in to Cree-language radio broadcasts as it brings back warm memories of her grandparents, who spoke it as their primary language.
“My broken ‘Crenglish’ doesn’t call back the same sound,” Hyggen says. “To think in Cree, to dream in Cree, to write your notes in Cree, to be listening to someone in English and be thinking what they’re saying in Cree — that’s a different level of fluency.”
Hyggen remains a frequent visitor to the province’s boreal forest and has become a passionate advocate for protecting the muskeg — vital wetlands comprised of peat moss that have become increasingly pressured by climate change and human industrial activity, including logging.
“It’s like, what’s going to be left 50 years from now? It’s kind of scary to think about,” she says, noting that disruption of the muskeg harms animals and increases the risk of wildfires.
In addition to her work with beads, Hyggen has always kept up her painting; a piece she made in 2018 is part of the Government of Canada’s Indigenous art collection.
Some of her latest work is a series of paintings devoted to capturing the beauty of the muskeg, in hopes of inspiring more people to take an interest in defending it.
Hyggen is part of For Peat’s Sake — an organization devoted to protecting northern Saskatchewan’s muskeg.
For Peat’s Sake co-founder Miriam Körner says Hyggen’s art helps create an emotional connection for people that resonates beyond the scientific, conservation-based arguments for protecting Saskatchewan’s muskeg.
“You only protect what you love,” Körner notes, remarking that she often finds herself reflecting on some of the details in Hyggen’s paintings as she spots plants and other features during her own walks in the north.
“Vanessa’s art is like a love declaration to the land, and in that sense it makes people curious about this place, and maybe want to go and see it for themselves.”
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