It's a Delicate Balance, 2021 • Christi Belcourt • Acrylic on canvas Gift of Funds from Andy and Meg Ubel in Honor of Mia's Docent Class of 2015, 2021.30
In late April, new life could be seen sprouting outside while inside Mia preparations for Art in Bloom were in full swing. The painting It’s a Delicate Balance was the signature piece for this year’s event and we were fortunate that artist Christi Belcourt paid her first-ever visit to Mia in honor of the occasion. In addition to giving a public lecture in Pillsbury Auditorium, Belcourt kindly agreed to have a personalized talk with Art in Bloom guides while gathered next to her painting in G301.
We’re all familiar with this stunning and intricate artwork, dense with a multitude of colorful dots and depicting a broad array of living things. You may use it frequently on tours, or you may just like to sit and marvel at it. In either case, we can gain a new level of familiarity with this painting by hearing directly from the artist who created it.
Belcourt spent about an hour speaking with guides in a warm and low-key but direct way, giving insights into her motivations, influences, and painting technique. Here are some nuggets and takeaways we heard from her that day.
Christi Belcourt with her painting and floral arrangement created for Art in Bloom. Photo: Meg Ubel
Water, Plants, and Métis Beadwork
Just looking at this painting, you get an idea of what’s important to Belcourt. Water is central to her approach, and she is always cognizant of it. She believes water is alive, like other beings, and has a spirit that must be protected. She also has a deep love for plants (like some people love dogs, she told us) and spends a great deal of time outdoors, sitting quietly with plants and “getting to know them.” Doing this, she noticed the interactions of plants with insects, such as the carnivorous pitcher plant, which taught her about the interconnectedness of all living things and about having respect for everything that exists. She sometimes has dreams about plants, as well, and tries to honor those dreams in her work as they guide her vision.
Belcourt also finds inspiration in the traditional flower beadwork of her Métis people. The painting looks like Métis beadwork, with its pops of color on a black background. The origin of her painting style came in 1993 with the gift of a pair of beaded mukluks from her ex-husband's aunt. The mukluks didn’t fit, so she hung them on the wall and decided to try painting in the style of the beading. When asked if she has a name for her painting style, she replied emphatically that it’s not “Dot Art,” instead preferring to call it “painting that emulates beadwork.”
Closeup of floral arrangement created for Art in Bloom showing plants in It's A Delicate Balance. Photo: Meg Ubel
The symmetrical composition of her painting is also rooted in this beadwork tradition. As Belcourt pointed out, practical items like jackets, shirts, and mukluks have two sides that have a natural symmetry. However, the symmetry in her work has come to mean more than that – referring to the balance of life.
Closeup of Traditional Floral Beadwork Threading The Spirit Bead - Beadwork by Metis Artists (Website) • 2024
Belcourt takes her work beyond the purely aesthetic in other ways to add commentary or express her beliefs. For instance, she included a fictional five-petaled yellow flower in It’s a Delicate Balance to honor all women lost to violence or disappearance. The painting also depicts 39 species, most of which are currently listed as threatened or endangered in the Upper Midwest. The listing of all the species can be found here: https://ipevolunteers.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Its-a-Delicate-Balance-flora-and-fauna.pdf
And how does she do it, applying 250,000 or more dots to canvas to make one of her paintings? Belcourt addressed her painting technique in detail.
Preparation
The canvas is first stapled to the wall, which in this case was in Belcourt’s living room. She begins by painting the canvas entirely black, standing on a stool or ladder as needed. The design is drawn on one half of the canvas and traced onto paper. She then flips the paper over and applies the design to the other half, giving her the symmetry she’s after. The design is not planned or sketched ahead of time – she has an idea of what she wants to do and then draws directly on the canvas.
Three-dot Rhythm
Belcourt uses acrylic paint, which has a yogurt-like consistency and doesn’t drip; this is a key property for her painting style. Paint colors are mixed according to instinct rather than formula, and stored in small plastic film canisters. And then she starts painting dots, in what she described as “getting a rhythm”: Dip the end of a knitting needle in the paint, apply three dots with light, medium, hard pressure – dip and repeat. She likens this rhythmic approach to actual beading, although painting goes much faster. When creating It’s a Delicate Balance, she started painting at the bottom because she was challenged by the water scene there, liked what was happening, and so continued upwards. On other paintings she will bounce all over the canvas.
The painted dots form a bead-like bump when dry, which makes the painting feel like beadwork. Belcourt enthusiastically told the group that she wants people to touch her paintings and experience this firsthand, which astonished us and was quickly discouraged by Debbi and Kara. Needless to say, we won’t be offering this option to visitors.
When asked about her working day, Belcourt said she will paint all day, but has to step away occasionally and do something else. Sometimes she’s so excited about the way the painting is developing she will work all day and into the night. A painting this size takes about a year to complete.
As a final thought, Belcourt invited us to imagine Mother Earth as a living, breathing entity with a heartbeat. And to think about all the life on Earth: the animals, plants, insects, sun, moon, water, air. Everything is interconnected, and we humans need them all to survive, while none of them depends on us.
To hear more from Belcourt herself, including some of her arts-based community initiatives, watch the Art in Bloom lecture she gave at this link: vimeo.com/940432003
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