Returning to Ourselves | Curatorial Tour with Lisa Deanne Smith
About the event
Join exhibition curator Lisa Deanne Smith for an engaging and in-depth curatorial tour of 'Returning to Ourselves: Rebecca Baird and Kenny Alvin Baird—A Retrospective of Art and Design by Cree Métis Siblings'.
During this guided experience, Lisa will share behind-the-scenes insights into the exhibition’s development, exploring the artistic practices, personal histories, and creative journeys of siblings Rebecca Baird and Kenny Alvin Baird. This intimate tour offers a unique opportunity to learn more about the curatorial process, the relationships that shaped the exhibition, and the powerful themes woven throughout the artists’ decades-long bodies of work.
About the Curator
Lisa Deanne Smith is Senior Curator of Onsite Gallery at OCAD University. Her curatorial practice examines voice, embodied knowledge, non-human–centred worldviews, and the processes through which knowledge is created and shared. As part of this inquiry, Smith became a certified Forest Therapy guide, deepening her engagement with land-based learning. Recent curatorial projects include The Sunshine Eaters, How to Breathe Forever, power, and How will we be with you? These multidisciplinary exhibitions included works by Mary Anne Barkhouse, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Shary Boyle, Nick Cave, Rocky Dobey, John Greyson, Brian Jungen, Jessica Karuhanga, Natalie King, Qavavau Manumie, Ekow Nimako, Alanis Obomsawin, Ebony G. Patterson, Rajni Perera, Pejvak, and Winnie Truong, among others.
About the Exhibition
'Returning to Ourselves: Rebecca Baird and Kenny Alvin Baird—A Retrospective of Art and Design by Cree Métis Siblings' presents over forty years of transformative work by Rebecca Baird and Kenny Alvin Baird. The exhibition spans sculpture, painting, and traditional material practices, alongside interior design, film art direction, graphic design, and public art commissions. Emerging from their Cree Métis histories and ways of knowing, the Bairds approach creative practice through multiple cultural perspectives, bringing together diverse forms of making grounded in lived experience, collaboration, and community-centred practice.
Onsite Gallery is generously supported by The Delaney Family.
We also acknowledge the support of Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council an agency of the Ontario Government and City of Toronto through Toronto Arts Council.
