About The Artist

Sherry Leigh Williams – Artist, Musician, Writer, Cultural Producer

Sherry Leigh Williams is a Métis/Nêhiyawak artist, vocalist, actress, writer, and cultural leader based on Salt Spring Island, BC. She is the founder and President of the Sweetgrass Arts and Music Society of Salt Spring Island, an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to fostering cultural expression, healing, and connection through the arts.

In 2024, Sweetgrass Arts and Music Society received a grant from the Salt Spring Island Foundation’s Indigenous Priorities Fund, which supported a major collaborative project with ArtSpring: an Indigenous-led Teepee Raising Ceremony, Fall Music Showcase, and Indigenous Art Exhibition, held in the ArtSpring meadow and gallery. The event will bring together Elders, youth dancers, Métis storytellers, and musicians in a celebration of living pan-Indigenous culture.

Sherry is a mother of six, a grandmother, a self-taught and award-winning artist, later completing a three-year diploma from Victoria College of Art, followed by a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria, where she graduated with distinction in 2019. She has taught people of all ages, including Indigenous Art History, and Studio Arts at Camosun College. Her art—combining traditonal Métis floral beadwork, painting in the "Métis Floral Tradition", digital illustration, canvas painting, hand painted drums, fiddles and guitars—has been exhibited across Canada and is held in collections around the world.

She is currently developing Papaashi Bufloo (The Buffalo Who Raced the Horses), a Southern Michif language children’s book supported by MNBC (Métis Nation British Columbia). The book includes digital and hand-painted illustrations. Her second series funded by the SNAAP Catalyst Grant will feature collaboration with her daughter, Laura Leigh Tobber, a master beadwork artist who's artwork is known under Red River Raven. Together, they are also working on a visual series that maps their family’s migration from Red River to Treaty 6 Territory and Coast Salish lands.

This broader project, which integrates historic maps, traditional beadwork patterns, and personal storytelling, is being developed under a Catalyst Grant from SSNAP (Salt Spring National Art Prize).

As a performer, Sherry has fronted multiple bands in Victoria—Southbound and Friends and a collaboration with world-renowned Syrian violinist Sari Alesh—and now performs regularly on Salt Spring Island with:

• Local Motion – an 8-piece classic rock and blues ensemble
  
• Shades of Grey – a 4-piece group blending jazz, blues, folk, and country
  

She serves as Entertainment Director for the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 92, and for Woodley’s Kitchen Party at Harbour House Hotel, and also books live entertainment for the Waterfront Country Café and Garden Faire Gallery, Nursery and Campground. She hosts a weekly open mic on Salt Spring Island, helping cultivate local music talent. " My goal is always to encourage, uplift and include all people. Music builds community, and community is vital for all of us."

Sherry Leigh sits on the board of The Salt Spring Jazz and Blues Society, RCL 92, is President of Sweetgrass Arts and Music Society a non profit dedicated to supporting Indigenous artists currently living and thriving on Salt Spring Island, BC. She is actively involved in IPW2025.

Sherry’s work has earned recognition and support from:

• Salt Spring Island Foundation
  
• SSNAP Catalyst Grant
  
• MNBC Arts and Culture
  
• First Peoples’ Cultural Council
  
• BC Arts Council
  
• Susan Benson Foundation
  
• Victoria Arts Council (President’s Choice Award)
  
• Chetwynd Arts Council, and others
  

She continues to balance her dynamic public life with the rhythms of family and the quiet creative power of her mountain studio on Salt Spring Island. Whether through beadwork, music, or storytelling, Sherry Leigh Williams brings Métis culture into vivid, living expression.