Virginia Jessica Sparvier Wells

Virginia J. Sparvier-Wells is an Alberta-based Cree multidisciplinary artist and registered member of Cowessess First Nation whose practice interweaves land, Indigenous identity, history, and language across dance, music, creation, and performance. She holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Calgary and an MFA in Contemporary Arts from Simon Fraser University, and currently co-directs Wild Mint Arts.

Sparvier-Wells's signature work *Iihksiisiinatsiistostiimao Nipaitapiitsiin*, created as her 2019 SFU MFA project, combines choreography and soundscape emerging from Indigenous research methodologies, land-based research, storytelling, and personal histories of adoption and displacement. The full-length solo weaves together Indigenous creation methods, visuals, and movement within a durational structure. An excerpt was presented at Matriarchs Uprising 2019, organized by O.Dela Arts, where it was documented as a layering of these interdisciplinary elements into a cohesive performance.

In a 2022 interview with Rotary Centre for the Arts, Sparvier-Wells discussed the work's Blackfoot title and its relationship to land, displacement, language, and reconnection—themes that anchor her artistic vision. Her practice demonstrates how contemporary Indigenous performance can emerge from research grounded in place and personal history, refusing separation between movement, sound, storytelling, and cultural knowledge.