Melissa Tremblett & Nicole Travers: the waters meet

Melissa Tremblett, Untitled. Document original.

the waters meet
Art Rooted in Land, Water, and Cultural Continuity

September 6 – October 25, 2025
ARTSPLACE Gallery, Annapolis Royal, NS
www.arcac.ca

ARTSPLACE Gallery presents the waters meet, a collaboration between Newfoundland-based artists Melissa Tremblett and Nicole Travers. The project honours the deep connections between family, community, land, and water and reflects a shared commitment to protecting these relationships for the next seven generations.

As Innu and Mi’kmaw women, Melissa and Nicole come from families sustained by the resources of the land and sea. Both live and work in Elmastukwek (Bay of Islands), Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland), and their practices are united by shared commitments to sustainability, sovereignty over natural resources, and the preservation of traditional knowledge.

Melissa’s work emerges from vivid memories of summers spent with her father and grandfather mending gill nets. She recalls accompanying her father to set the nets, learning each step in quiet observation. Her paternal heritage is both settler and Innu, and she brings these ancestries together in a net that combines her grandfather’s fishing methods with her grandmother’s beadwork techniques. Using seed beads and netting rope from her father, she assembles the net one pair of beads at a time, symbolizing the equal importance of both heritages. Photographs of Melissa and her father setting nets in a location used by her family for decades accompany the work, underscoring the continuity of teachings passed through generations.

“Our work speaks to the ways knowledge moves quietly through time,” say Tremblett and Tavers, “carried in the hands of those who came before us and passed on to those who will come after.”

Nicole’s work draws on skills learned from her father and grandfather, building lobster traps, knitting nets, and preparing trawl lines. She incorporates foraged natural materials and methods such as bark tanning, a practice that has nearly disappeared in Newfoundland and Labrador. Only a small number of people continue this tradition today. Her work emphasizes minimal environmental impact, ensuring that the materials will naturally decompose and return to the land.

“Together, Melissa and Nicole create an exhibition that is both personal and communal, an expression of cultural continuity, resilience, and a profound respect for the natural world,” says Sophie Paskins, ARTSPLACE Gallery Director.

The exhibition is supported through the province of Nova Scotia, Canada Council for the Arts, and Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council.

“the waters meet” continues through October 25.

Nicole Travers, Muiwalul: I Honour You, 2021, tea tanned salmon skin, beach grass cordage, glass seed beads, 23 x 13 x 2 inches. Document original.

Melissa Tremblett (she/her) is a multidisciplinary visual artist of Innu and English heritage from Sheshatshiu, Labrador, based in Elmastukwek, Ktaqmkuk territory (Bay of Islands, Western Newfoundland). Working in installation, photography, sculpture, mural painting, and traditional techniques such as doll making and beading, she explores the intersections of her Indigenous and Settler roots. Recent achievements include a Canada Council Creating, Knowing, Sharing Grant (2025, 2024), a commission to design a pin for the 2025 Canada Games, and shortlisting for the Milestone Award for Visual Artists Newfoundland and Labrador (2023). Tremblett holds a BFA in Visual Arts (2015) and a BSc in Behavioural Neuroscience (2011) from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is featured in publications including Exactly What I Said (2022) and Tracing Ochre (2018).

Nicole Travers (she/her) is a Mi’kmaw artist, mother, and steward of the land and water from Little Port, Elmastukwek (Bay of Islands), Ktaqmkuk, Newfoundland. Self-taught, she began learning traditional Mi’kmaw beadwork in 2015, inspired by historic pieces in museum collections. Her work blends traditional double curves, petroglyphs, and hieroglyphs with contemporary techniques. Travers also tans animal pelts and fish skin using traditional teachings, creating distinctive pieces sought after by collectors. She shares her skills through workshops and mentorship, and operates the small business Blomidon Beadwork. Her accolades include the Ulnooweg Cottage Crafters Award (2020), Artist-in-Residence at Fogo Island Arts (2021), and the cover feature of Riddle Fence (Spring 2021). Her practice reflects a deep connection to her Indigenous heritage and a commitment to cultural preservation.

ARTSPLACE is a public art gallery that is operated by the Annapolis Region Community Arts Council (ARCAC). ARCAC is a registered charity, dedicated to encouraging and promoting the arts. Supported through the Province of Nova Scotia and the Canada Council for the Arts.

ARTSPLACE Gallery
396 St. George Street, Annapolis Royal, NS
www.arcac.ca
admin@arcac.ca
902-532-7069

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Accessibility:
ARTSPLACE is accessible via an outdoor ramp to the main floor galleries. There is an accessible, gender neutral washroom on the main floor.