Congratulations on your retirement.
A gift to commemorate your service.
Thank you so much for your years of service to our faculty. Reflecting your critical role in our success over the years, we feel it's fitting that our gift to you reflect your many contribution to our faculty. Please choose one of the following images for a limited edition, gallery quality print, of one of the beautiful paintings that Dr. Jennifer Leason created for our strategic plan.
Wishing you all the best in the next stage of your life,
Ellen
Dr. Ellen Perrault,
Dean Faculty of Social Work
Waaseyaa
Abstract painting of sunrise over a city
Frame size 20"x16"
"There are four buildings based on the four directions. They are braided like sweet grass, representative of decolonization and working to transform our institutions and structures in a way that works best for everyone. Using sweet grass as a symbol for the buildings, is really metaphorical because it represents braiding together body, mind and spirit. It’s bringing the physical, the emotional, the mental and spiritual components of Indigenous ways of knowing into the institution." - Dr. Jennifer Leason
Hopes and Dreams
Abstract painting of dandelion seeds blowing
Frame size 16"x20"
Dandelion
From birth, to life, to death.
From leaves, to flowers, to seeds.
Beauty not only rests with roses.
Beauty begins in the weeds.
Forgotten.
Passed by.
Underestimated among the perfect, colonized green lawns…
A nuisance, sprayed to death
With Killex, Monsanto and Round up. Resistant.
Resilient.
The wind blows the seeds.
Spreads the ashes.
Life will go on.
She will spread her beauty.
- Dr. Jennifer Leason
All My Relations
Symbolic painting of a tree
Frame size 16"x20"
“The hopes and the dreams of the faculty are its connection to the earth, its connection to water, its connections to the environment, creating healthy environments, healthy communities, healthy families, and a tree is growing from this from these beautiful elements. The tree has seven branches representing the sacred teachings.” - Dr. Jennifer Leason
Teepee Teachings
Abstract painting of teepee lodgepoles
Frame size 20"x16"
“As individuals, we come into this space with our own thoughts, ideas, beliefs, ways of doing, and being. If a single pole were to be mounted, it would fall to the ground. But we lean on one another. It’s the intersections and connections of these poles, that creates this beautiful space of connection, diversity and inclusion.” - Dr. Jennifer Leason
About the Artisit
Dr. Jennifer Leason, whose Anishinaabek name is Keesis Sagay Egette Kwe (First Shining Rays of Sunlight Woman), is a member of Pine Creek Indian Band in Manitoba. Dr. Leason is a Canadian Institute of Health Research, Canada Research Chair, Tier II, Indigenous Maternal Child Wellness and an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary.