Bio

Ashley Huot (she/her) is a librarian, interdisciplinary artist, and educator born and raised on the prairies, currently based in Winnipeg, MB (Wiinibiigong / ᐄᐧᓂᐯᐠ , Treaty 1 Territory). She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art & Design (2011 ) and her Masters of Library and Information Studies (2021) from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, AB (Amiskwaciwâskahikan / ᐊᒥᐢᑲᐧᒋᐋᐧᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ, Treaty 6 Territory).

Library & Information Work

Ashley’s LIS interests involve instruction and pedagogy, particularly in studio-based and research-creation practices, engagement in open access, and supporting prison libraries. Ashley is currently a Humanities Liaison Librarian at the University of Manitoba’s Architecture/Fine Arts Library where she supports The Faculty of Architecture (Environmental Design, Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Interior Design, and City Planning) and the School of Art. She currently further supports the LIS community as Chair of the MLA Prison Libraries Committee, Co-Editor of ARLIS/NA Library Exhibitions Review, an ARLISNA Editorial Board Member, Canadian Co-Liaison of ArLiSNAP, and the Prairie Region Representative for ARLIS/NA the Canada Executive Committee. She was formally Editor-In-Chief of Pathfinder and a Director-at-Large with the U of A Library and Information Studies Alumni Association.

Community Arts & Education

Ashley is passionate about community arts and their capacity to support life-long learning. She believes in the role of art in education and community and has supported arts accessibility and approachability through her work and volunteering with non-profits, social service agencies, arts organizations, and school divisions. Her main focus has been developing free arts programs for children, youth, and their families that support life skills while promoting wellness, multi-literacies, resiliency, and the fostering of inclusive and socially sustainable communities.

Art Practice

Ashley’s artistic practice is largely influenced by her rural upbringing. Her work articulates relationships between land, memory, the body, and how this correlates with our understanding of mortality, presence, and anxieties. Through an assemblage of images, videos, and objects, her work invokes a correlation between bodies, built and decaying structures, and animals. In articulating these confrontations and the underlying experience of our phenomenology, moments of reflection are provided on the complex relationships of how we value and relate to the land that sustains us and the memories it holds.

Contact

Email: ashleylynnhuot@gmail.com

I would like to acknowledge that the Lands I was born and raised on are situated on Treaty 6 territory, a traditional gathering place for diverse Indigenous peoples including the Cree, Blackfoot, Métis, Nakota Sioux, Iroquois, Dene, Ojibway/ Saulteaux/Anishinaabe, Inuit, and many others whose histories, languages, and cultures continue to influence a vibrant community. Currently, I reside in Winnipeg on Treaty 1 territory, the traditional Lands of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and homeland of the Métis Nation. I am grateful for the reciprocity and bounties of these Lands and Waters and for the Traditional Knowledge and Teachings I have had the opportunity to receive.