Gail Tremblay

(American, born 1945, died 2023)

Gail Tremblay (1945-2023) was a non-Native artist and writer. She created multimedia artworks, installations, critical writing, and poetry. Tremblay was also an influential teacher and advocated for diversity and gender equality in the world of art and academia. She was honored with a Washington State Governor's Arts and Heritage Award in 2001.

Tremblay grew up in Buffalo, New York. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Oregon (1969) and a Bachelor of Arts in Drama from the University of New Hampshire (1967). She was a professor at The Evergreen State College in Olympia from 1980 to 2016, teaching English, Native American Studies, Art, and Art History. Her writing, poetry, and visual artwork have been included in numerous anthologies and exhibitions concerning feminism, gender roles, and the Native American experience. Many museums and collections hold Tremblay's artworks.

For approximately forty years, Tremblay claimed the lineage of the Onondaga, Mi’kmaq, and Mohawk (St. Regis) Nations. Before her death, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Indian Arts and Crafts Board began an investigation into her claims. With the support of the Nations noted, as well as genealogical research, they determined that Tremblay was not Indigenous.