“Whispers Beneath the Bush (2025)
A landscape over an unused MMF Treaty Sketch (c. 2023)”  
Oil Painting – 11” x 14”  
(Not for sale until May 2026) 

… a time capsule … 

     The Untold Story Behind a Landscape Oil Painting

The Hidden Sketch: 

In 2023 and 2024, I had the rare and humbling honour of serving as the only official artist commissioned by the Manitoba Métis Federation—the only recognized Métis Government in Canada—to attend and capture the historic Treaty Consultations and subsequent Treaty Signing with Canada.

It was an unprecedented opportunity. No other artist was given the level of access I was granted. I stood witness to pivotal moments in Métis history. From that journey came over 25 original oil paintings, each a visual document of a critical chapter in our nation’s story. These works now reside in the permanent collection of the MMF.

But there was one piece that remained unfinished. – a sketched a scene of President David Chartrand speaking with a Métis citizen. The two were engaged in a heartfelt conversation about Métis Harvesting Rights. It was a fleeting, human moment amid the grand narrative of our nations discussions. I captured it in graphite on a wood panel, intending to later return to it with oil. But as the larger series neared completion, the sketch was set aside, unfinished.

Months passed, and the panel sat quietly in my studio—unfinished but not forgotten.

I couldn’t bring myself to discard it. Instead, I chose to do something more meaningful. I repurposed the panel for a new landscape oil painting, sealing the historic sketch beneath the oil paint. 

The Landscape Oil Painting:

Years before the MMF Treaty work, I found myself in a very different place. I was navigating deep personal hardship, including homelessness. At one point I was wandering between Maple Ridge and Mission, British Columbia, when I stumbled upon a breathtaking view—a quiet lakeside scene that offered something rare: peace. In the middle of chaos, it grounded me. I didn’t write it down. I don’t remember the exact spot. But I never forgot how it made me feel.

That moment stayed with me.

When it came time to create something new from the unused panel, I turned to that memory. I painted it with feeling — a landscape built from emotion and remembrance.

This painting holds dual meaning:

So now, beneath the serene surface of Whispers Beneath the Bush lies something more: the original sketch of President Chartrand and the Métis citizen. A conversation about rights, legacy, and governance—quietly entombed beneath paint, like a time capsule. A whisper of history beneath the image of peace.

It is both a personal remembrance of resilience during a time of homelessness, and a hidden archival fragment of the MMF Treaty Consultations—two deeply human Metis stories, layered into one work of art.

The original sketch still exists, though unseen. Its only remaining traces are:

• A few digital photographs I took while painting over it (these will only ever be released to the owner of the artwork),

• A written account, which is affixed to the back of the painting,

• And perhaps, one day, through x-ray or forensic imaging, the drawing might be revealed again—echoing back from beneath the layers.

Whispers Beneath the Bush is more than a painting. It is a layered Metis / Canadian  artifact—a convergence of personal survival and cultural continuity. A quiet testament to the things we carry forward: moments of beauty forged in struggle, and history preserved not always in full view, but in spirit.

It speaks softly, but clearly—to memory, resilience, and the hidden stories we choose to preserve.

—
JD Hawk
Métis Artist
2025