Indigenous Artist

Jessica McMann is an Alberta -based Cree (Cowessess, SK), multi-disciplinary artist. She is in the process of reclaiming her birth name and will be soon working under the name Virginia Jessica Sparvier-Wells. She interweaves land, Indigenous identity, history, and language throughout her dance and music creation/performance practice. A classically trained flutist, she holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Calgary and an MFA in Contemporary Arts from Simon Fraser University. Her work fuses together traditional language and dance with her own contemporary experiences as an Indigenous woman and Two-Spirit person.

Her new album released on Oct. 29th 2023 evokes the sounds and stories of the prairies and includes commissioned work as well as new originals. "Prairie Dusk" is available on all platforms. This is a follow-up album to her award winning first album Incandescent Tales which was released in June of 2021. This Indigenous classical album won the 2022 YYC Music Classical Album of the Year and Gold Medals in the Global Music Awards. A WCMA 2022 and 2023 nominee as well as SSIMA 2023 nominee, she is working on a new alt-pop recording to be released summer of 2024.

Her musical, composition, and soundscape work focuses on land-based creation and ideas of connection, disconnection, and home."Too Good; That MAY Be", an immersive soundscape performance was shown at the Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg as part of "The 60's Scoop; A Place Between" in 2017. Her compositions include Muskwa's Mountain Home (2021), Inni (2018) and soundscapes including beguiling (the)the land (2020).


Jessica currently resides in Cochrane, Alberta, where she works for the City of Calgary as Curator of Indigenous Art. She is also co-founder and co-director Wild Mint Arts, an Indigenous arts company and is a Laureate of the Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL Indigenous Art Awards (2017).


CV and performance history available upon request.

INDIGENOUS ANCESTRY

First Nations

SELF-IDENTIFICATION

Cowessess First Nation