Art S+S Artists Alex Jacobs-Blum and Kyle Joedicke are awarded City of Hamilton's Creator Awards

We are pleased to extend congratulations to artists Alex Jacobs-Blum and Kyle Joedicke as recipients of the 2024 City of Hamilton Arts Awards Creator Award.

The City of Hamilton Arts Awards recognizes and celebrates individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to arts in our community.

View available works by Alex Jacobs-Blum

Alex Jacobs-Blum is a Gayogo̱hó꞉nǫʼ (Cayuga) and German visual lens-based artist and curator. Her research focuses on Indigenous futures and accessing embodied Ancestral Hodinöhsö:ni’ knowledge. The core of her practice and methodology is a strong foundation in community building, fostering relationships, empowering youth, and Indigenizing institutional spaces. Her creative process is rooted in cyclical storytelling and challenging hierarchical power structures. Jacobs-Blum endeavours to facilitate transformative change infused with love and care, guided by anti-oppressive and anti-racist modalities.

Alex Jacobs-Blum received a Bachelor of Photography at Sheridan College in 2015, where she was awarded the Canon Award of Excellence for Narrative Photography. Her artistic work has been exhibited at the University of Ottawa, Centre[3] for Artistic + Social Practice, Woodland Cultural Centre, Critical Distance Centre for Curators, and most recently in a group exhibition at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery November 18th, 2023 - April 7th, 2024. She is a member of the Bawaadan Collective.

View available works by Kyle Joedicke

Kyle Joedicke is a Cayuga Woodland artist whose work reflects the stories of his Haudenosaunee cultural heritage. Born in Caledonia, Joedicke grew up in the home of a mother of Scottish descent while his father was a Cayuga and Turtle Clan member from the nearby Six Nations of the Grand River. The content of Joedicke’s painting practice is informed by the Haudenosaunee stories of his background while his visual vocabulary is influenced by west coast Haida art and the work of renowned artist, Norval Morrisseau. Kyle Joedicke is a self-taught artist currently based out of Hamilton, ON.

In recent years, Joedicke has gained notable recognition for his vibrant, large-scale murals in the local Hamilton area that share the Indigenous teachings he has been learning. One such mural completed in 2021 in Hamilton’s improved Concession Street area translated a set of these teachings. Painted depictions of the stories of seven animals reflecting the oral history and traditions of Indigenous elders span across the mural’s expanse in bright colour and vivid patterning. As he educates himself about the teachings of his ancestral heritage, Joedicke hopes that his artworks offer opportunity to share these meaningful stories with the wider Hamilton community at large.