Travelling art exhibit aims to break new ground

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Jane Ash Poitras feels pride when she reflects on the modest collection of Native work that helped signal the arrival of the Aboriginal experience into Canada's contemporary art world.

Though the world-renowned Cree artist has travelled an impressive career path over the past two decades, a piece of her heart will always remain with the Alberta Collection of Aboriginal Art. The little collection, which got its start with landmark artists like Poitras in the early 1980s, led the way for these same gifted people to continue on with their work.

"It was an enzyme for them to continue on," Poitras said. "It was the first time Native artists came together and were actually getting recognized. For Native artists to be able to have an audience was very important."

Far from the romanticized versions of Native life that popular art has always embraced, the vibrant, sometimes bruising collection was done by Native artists, giving a new truth to society's image of them.

"The non-Native person is always romanticizing (Natives), but there's nothing romantic about it. It's a harsh reality about the plight of our people," said Poitras. "It's an issue, it has to be addressed."

Pulsing with anger, sadness, humor and pride, the 25-piece display of paintings and sketches is making the rounds in Alberta over the next year.

Created by members of the now defunct Alberta Indian Arts and Crafts Society, the art had to be sold to pay off the society's debts in 1992.

Concerned about keeping the pieces together as a collection, the artists approached the federal Department of Indian and Northern Affairs to buy the artwork.

It was a good investment in giving Aboriginal art a legitimate voice, said Barry Ace, a spokesperson for Indian Affairs. "Indian art history has never really been written in this country. The contribution and recognition of Indian artists has not been written about. That's why it's important to keep these works together," Ace added.

Permanently housed in Ottawa, the Alberta collection's first stop in the province was at Edmonton's Harcourt House Gallery in November 2000.

When the gallery was offered the chance to display the collection, it quickly accepted and made plans to have the exhibit travel around the rest of the province, said co-ordinator Christal Pshyk.

Its strength makes the exhibit powerful, she said.

"I was really pleased when I got the work. I don't see a lot of contemporary Aboriginal artwork."

From Dec. 8 to Jan. 8, the exhibit was at Rudolph Hennig School in Fort Saskatchewan.

Fourteen artists are represented in the show, with pieces ranging from Poitras' raw, color-soaked graffitti, to the provocative stylings of Alex Janvier, whose work, Cultural Orphan Annies, has Aboriginal girls lined up as clones under the stern eye of a nun.

Perhaps most unforgettable is the gently heartbreaking imagery of Vancouver artist George Littlechild, whose painting Indian Princess shows the gradual disintegration and death of a Native woman falling victim to alcohol.

The pain in each stroke of the brush and turn of the pencil still exists for Canada's Aboriginal community, even though the collection is almost 20 years old, said Poitras.

"People are still worried about the residential school system. They're going to court and want to be reimbursed for atrocities in residential schools. People are still fighting for hunting and fishing rights. We still have way too many people in jails."

Though painful to look at, there is an important message in the exhibit for Native people, said Poitras.

"The message is prevention. Stay with your culture, have pride in who you are."