Jean Marshall: Gakina Gegoon

Image: Jean Marshall, Untitled, 2024, hide, glass beads, porcupine quills, sequin and thread. Image courtesy of the artist.

Gakina Gegoon is a solo presentation by Thunder Bay artist Jean Marshall. Her chosen title for this selection of works means “everything, all of them – a set of things” in Anishinaabemowin.  

As a constellation of new and recent works, including beaded and felted medallions, Jean’s work creates a celestial space of meaning and possibility. Jean’s beadwork conveys connectedness through flowing, humble, calm yet purposeful lines, resonating with who Jean is in real life. There is medicine in beadwork, offering a gift of focus and flow.

Artist Bio:

Jean’s career maps a twenty-year course of art and community. She is a respected bead worker, quiller, curator, and hide tanner. While her works have been exhibited nationally and internationally, Jean’s practice prioritizes strong connections to home. She was born and raised in Thunder Bay and currently resides on the shores of Lake Superior on the lands of Animikii-Wajiw also known as Fort William First Nation. She is a band member of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nation, also known as Big Trout Lake, Treaty 9. Inspired by the scents of smoked hide and her aunties’ beadwork, she absorbed patterns and techniques that inform and guide her forward as an artist, teacher and all-around force in our community. Jean’s goal is to become a master hide tanner. She is co-founder and a co-director of the Aanikoobijganag Thunder Bay Beading Symposium. 

Opening Reception + Artist Talk: