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Artist brings Métis culture, design to fashion line
What began as a few paintings expanded into a fashion line for Nicole LeClair
The Winnipeg Free Press
By: Gabrielle Piché
Posted: 6:04 PM CDT Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024
For 21 years, Nicole LeClair didn’t know she was Métis.
And for the next several decades, LeClair felt she “didn’t deserve” to incorporate Métis designs into her artwork.
But the beadwork slowly crept into her paintings. Now, she’s trying her Métis culture on new mediums: windbreakers, yoga pants and drinking glasses, among other things.
Nicole LeClair is the founder of Metisart, a clothing line inspired by LeClair’s heritage.
Her fashion line name? Metisart.
“I feel like when I’m (creating) in the moment, I’m Métis and I’m exploring my Métis culture,” LeClair, 53, said. “Sometimes when I take a step back, that’s when I feel a little insecure. I have to remind myself that I need to be… learning all the time.”
She considered launching a fashion line for about a year. Six months ago, she decided to commit; she’s been spreading the word since.
Online, LeClair is selling Métis-inspired home goods and clothing for men and women. Her designs cover the items.
She learned she was Métis while pursuing a creative career. Right before going to college for advertising art, a now defunct course, she heard her cousin had a Métis citizenship card.
“I asked her, ‘How’d you get that?’” LeClair recalled.
It turns out her father knew their heritage, he just didn’t talk about it. LeClair decided to explore further. She’d had friends who celebrated various nationalities, and she’d wondered about her own. Something was missing, she’d thought.
So she read about Métis culture, learned about the beadwork, looked back at her family history. She didn’t incorporate the culture into her artwork because it felt fraudulent, she said.
She doesn’t bead; she prefers blending acrylic and oil painting. About a decade ago — more than 20 years after she learned she was Métis — she started meshing Métis designs, including beadwork patterns, with her art.
“What I’ve learned is my culture is a learning process. It’s a journey,” LeClair shared.
She called art her “passion.” Her day job is in Indigenous communications at the University of Manitoba. On the side, she’s been producing Métis-focused artwork.
Five years ago, a collection of hers was shown at Cre8ery Art Gallery in the Exchange District. In 2022, her pieces were featured in the background of CBC’s Canada Day television programming, she said.
Now she designs clothes digitally. Sometimes her paintings end up on shirts and décor: a photographer takes pictures of the physical work, and the photos are applied to clothing online.
All items are made to order to reduce waste, LeClair said. Because there’s no warehouse stock, it may take three weeks for a shipment to arrive.
Selling in a store is LeClair’s end goal. She’s planning to talk with the Manitoba Métis Federation, she said.
Meantime, she’s teaching her dad about being Métis. Albert LeClair said he’s proud of everything his daughter does, “especially when it comes to (her) art and culture.”
“I feel good about that,” Nicole LeClair said.
The number of Red River Métis artisans is booming, according to David Chartrand, the Manitoba Métis Federation’s president. The MMF counts 197 artisans in its rotary.
Years ago, the Métis government saw cultural works sitting in shops. It began buying the products and selling them through its own enterprise, which recently underwent a name change to the Métis Red River Company, Chartrand said. Artisans’ wares have been highlighted through the Red River Métis Marketplace.
The MMF has bought $600,000 worth of artisans’ products over the past few years and sold $300,000, Chartrand relayed.
“Our strategy really was to try to bring back part of the beauty of… our artisans’ work,” he stated.
Buyers populate Canada, the United States and Europe, he said. The MMF has also been purchasing fur from trappers, which Métis entrepreneurs then use to create goods.
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“I’m very, very proud of the amount of artisans that are coming forth,” Chartrand said. “Our artisans, in the context of their importance, has been part of the backbone of all Indigenous cultures.”
Métis people used to recognize each other based on their beadwork, including the five petal flowers with stems or tendrils, Chartrand said. Beadwork often tells a story about its wearer.
Learning through beadwork is an increasingly popular way for people to understand their Métis heritage, Chartrand noted. LeClair has been one to make Métis art “an everyday part of her life,” he added.
LeClair’s clothing and home goods are sold on metisart.com.