Blake McLeod (they/them) is the Creative Director & Founder of CINIC Studio, a multidisciplinary artist, and an award-winning radio host of Woodland Cree & Euro descent from Fort St. John, BC in Treaty 8.

At the ripe age of 5-years-old, McLeod moved to Northern Alberta to live and study in Grande Prairie. Surviving as an Indigenous, Queer, and Trans person was challenging in the oil-and-gas-centred city which was known for several years as being the “fastest growing” and simultaneously “most dangerous” city in Canada - racism, substance abuse, and sexual violence were rampant. Additionally, McLeod has long struggled to navigate an identity involving both “the cowboy & the Indian,” as an Indigenous person with many of their relations and previous generations working in the dangerous, destructive and egregiously profitable oil & gas industry.

From an early age, McLeod fled home after home in search of safety. This has driven the central theme in much of McLeod’s work to be about searching for belonging and feeling seen authentically through storytelling via a breadth of mediums. Due to the systemic and personal disconnection caused by the many lasting effects of colonization, McLeod has been on the long journey of gaining better insight and understanding of their origins.

In an attempt to make sense of the madness, McLeod spent much of their youth fixating on various forms of art-making; drawing, writing, photography, music, and video. Once high school was out of the way, they took the leap into art school to start their Bachelor of Fine Arts. After two years at Northwestern Polytechnic (formerly Grande Prairie Regional College during McLeod’s time), they came to Calgary, AB to complete their Bachelor of Fine Arts at AuArts (formerly the Alberta College of Art and Design during McLeod’s time).

Though a Drawing major, McLeod was introduced to screen printing during their time at ACAD and quickly fell in love with the ability to play with line, colour, and shape in an entirely new way. Only being able to take two printing courses prior to graduating with distinction in 2016, they yearned for the ability to access screenprinting once again. After a successful fundraising effort in 2021 to secure a year’s worth of studio rent, they moved into the studio space they currently work out of. They have been living working in Moh’kinstsis, Treaty 7 (colonially known as Calgary, Alberta) ever since.