Indigenous artist Jamie Gentry, a member of the Kwakwaka'wakw Nation, is featuring her handmade moccasins in a new exhibition at the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art in Vancouver. Titled 'Blossoming,' the show highlights seven new pairs of moccasins and one face mask inspired by flowers. Gentry began creating moccasins about 13 years ago after attending a workshop with the T’sou-ke Nation in British Columbia.
Jamie Gentry's journey into moccasin-making started around 13 years ago when she attended a workshop offered by the T’sou-ke Nation in British Columbia, Canada. "From the very first day, something shifted," Gentry recalls. "It felt as though I had found a path that had been waiting for me. What began as learning technique quickly became something much deeper—a relationship with the work, culture, patience, and myself. I have been creating ever since."
Now based in her studio in East Sooke on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Gentry handcrafts her moccasins using soft hides, often adorning them with fur or colorful beadwork drawn from her natural surroundings. "Nature is not just my backdrop—it is an active presence in my practice," she says. "The quiet, the stillness, the seasons... They all help shape the pace and spirit of my work."
The 'Blossoming' exhibition, on view at the Bill Reid Gallery until May 24, centers on floral themes. Gentry created the pieces using materials like commercially tanned bison hides, home-tanned hides, fox and beaver furs, fish skin, abalone, pearl cabochons, Swarovski crystals, 24-karat gold beads, spikes, Vibram soles, and hand-painted rainbow platforms. Beadwork features Charlotte-cut beads for their light-reflecting quality, with one pair including fully beaded butterfly wings. "That was a new direction for me," Gentry notes, "symbolizing transformation and freedom."
"This body of work is deeply personal," Gentry explains. "It represents a little girl who spent much of her life blending into the background, hiding in the shadows—who is now learning to step into the light. To blossom into herself." She views her moccasins as storytelling tools that honor Kwakwaka'wakw traditions. "As a member of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation, our relationship to regalia and adornment is deeply ceremonial, familial, and tied to lineage," she says. "My work can challenge narrow perceptions of Indigenous design—asserting that it can be luxurious, experimental, intricate, and expansive while remaining rooted in cultural integrity."
Gentry hopes the exhibition inspires viewers. "I hope this collection plants seeds of beauty, gentleness, and softness that blossom into inspiration for others," she adds. "That it can empower and encourage others to live from their hearts, explore their unique gifts, and the immense beauty they hold within themselves."