Artist Spotlight: Wenzdae Anaïs Brewster (she/her)
- Mikaela Brewer
- Aug 4
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 5
by Mikaela Brewer for The 44 North
Multimedia Artist: digital, traditional beadwork, oddity work, and painting
Wenzdae (she/her) is an Afro-Indigenous, multi-media artist hailing from the Georgian Bay Metis Community, of which she is a registered and claimed member. She is a direct descendant of the Clermont-Dusome, Trudeau-Papanaathyhianencoe and Beausoliel-Giroux family lines, and her lineage is traced to Manitoba as well as Barbados on her paternal side.
Wenzdae is an accomplished artist with many credits to her name. She specializes in jewellery production, Indigenous beadwork, graphic design, and traditional hand-poke tattoos. Wenzdae has over 13 years of experience and mentorship under her belt.
Her credits include artworks published in both media and television, including creating beadwork for ‘Motherland: Fort Salem’ and an upcoming season of
‘Sullivan’s Crossing’ as well as outfitting several Indigenous community leaders and celebrities.
She is a published author, illustrator and photographer, with one of her iconic images being named amongst CBC’s top 12 best Canadian book covers of 2017. She was also a recipient of the 2013 James Bartleman Aboriginal Youth Creative Writing Award and has multiple upcoming projects and publications coming in the following years through her agency (Trans Atlantic Agency) and Swift Water Books.
Website: wenzdaeweird.ca
Instagram: instagram.com/wenzdaeweird.ca
“My roots will always play a key role in how I think, how I create and perceive the world but they will not define or limit me as an artist. I hope people see that art and culture are not the same as history. Culture is forever shifting and growing, evolving and expanding. Finding new ways to implement old techniques into modernity is one of the ways we carry our ancestors into the present.”
For a few years, I've had the absolute privilege of wearing and admiring Wenzdae's art. Please spend some time with her responses to my questions about her work, alongside photographs of the variety of art she crafts!
M: For each of your projects/artworks, is there a story behind their crafting/creation process that you'd like to share?
W: Each creation is made different but with equal intention and care. I never truly have a plan going into a new piece (even when I think I do—haha). The theme of the work varies based on what I want to emphasize or project into the world, but the foundation of all my creations is my culture. I spent years under the mentorship of my chosen aunt, June Taylor, who taught me everything I know about Indigenous beadwork (specifically woodlands aesthetic) while we sat at her kitchen table. No matter what I create, the foundation of my knowledge stems back to those days.
M: How do you, your family, ancestry, community, politics, and values braid into your work on these projects? Where/how, especially, would you like folks to witness/experience this when spending time with your work? Is there anything you hope people pay particular attention to? Take action with/from?
W: I am an intuitive artist who also happens to be Black and Indigenous, as well as European and South Asian. My creative knowledge stems from my Metis heritage, which I grew up deeply entrenched in—from plant medicine knowledge to resistance through storytelling. I like to think of my work as culturally rooted in that heritage but able to be enjoyed by all. I have no intention of separating myself, my beliefs or morals from my work. I like to call myself a radical hippie—as I strongly stand for freedom and equality, which has never truly been achieved by the “peace and love” motto we typically identify with hippie culture, particularly as it pertains to non-western communities. My roots will always play a key role in how I think, how I create and perceive the world, but they will not define or limit me as an artist. I hope people see that art and culture are not the same as history. Culture is forever shifting and growing, evolving and expanding. Finding new ways to implement old techniques into modernity is one of the ways we carry our ancestors into the present.
M: If these projects could speak, what might they say/offer? If not in words, what might they offer in energy? Mind, body, heart, spirit?
W: My work would offer a new perspective on mixed identity, not one that “waters down” any one of the cultures in my background but one that incorporates, shares and enhances each, in particular, the ways in which they connect and alchemize into something uniquely beautiful. Love knows no boundaries or borders, so cultural appreciation is essential for the ethical trading of knowledge, skills, stories, and arts. My work embraces elements of the aesthetics and environmentally informed processes that underpin my understanding of art, while also bringing its own unique characteristics that have been made possible through the act of true cross-cultural communication.
Hand-painted ethically harvested animal skulls with upcycled vintage frames (2024-2025).
Accessibility text: An array of animal skulls painted in many different colours, shapes, and designs.
Modern beadwork created for the set of “Motherland: Fort Salem (2023)”
Accessibility text: Several women (characters) from the show "Motherland: Fort Salem" wearing a variety of Wenzdae's beaded jewelry, especially earrings.
A sample of diverse styles & mediums re: original illustrations for current & forthcoming projects
Accessibility text: 2 paintings of Indigenous women in pink and purple dresses decorated with rainbows, flowers, and butterflies. They are also wearing black and white feathers in their hair.
Eighteen unique images commissioned by Indigenous Geographic
Accessibility text: "A diverse and visually vibrant range of illustrations inspired by Métis culture, ensuring accuracy and respect for traditional design elements.” The images include canoes, flowers, moccasins, and more!
Utilizing natural & upcycled materials, glass cut beads and ethically harvested and treated animal products. Samples from recent commissioned and creative projects (2022-2025)
Accessibility text: Many pieces of beaded jewelry in different colours, including rings, earrings, necklaces, and small purses. They feature images of water, trees, people, flowers, and other shapes.
Early draft illustrations for ‘THE GIRL WHO COLLECTED STARS’ (Swift Water Books/Penguin Random House Canada, forthcoming 2026)
Accessibility text: 2 drawings of a young girl with medium brown skin, brown curly hair, and round glasses. In the first, she is looking out the window of an apartment building at night, through purple curtains. The building is surrounded by flowers and stars, and a small black cat looks out the window next to her. In the second image, the girl is standing on a green stool with blue flowers, looking into a mirror. She's wearing a striped purple dress and pink socks.
Signature Beadwork Style
Accessibility text: This signature style came from a dream Wenzdae had of beautiful birch bark paddles dripping with beaded florals and berries, and they carried people to and from the river banks. Upon waking up, she knew she had to re-create this vision. The Métis (also known as the floral beadwork people) are known for their intricate botanical beadwork designs on materials such as plush velvet. Wenzdae combined the teardrop shape of an ore with colourful materials and glass cut beads to make her staple beadwork design she’s now known for. You can view these creations on her website or on the big screen.
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