Boyer left mark in worlds of art, culture and education

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While the rest of Canada commemorated Labour Day, more than 300 people from the artistic and Aboriginal worlds came to the First Nations University of Canada (FNUC) to say goodbye to a colleague, a teacher, an artist and a friend.

Bob Boyer, a world-renowned Aboriginal artist and head of the Department of Indian Fine Arts at FNUC, collapsed and died of a heart attack while dancing at a powwow in Nebraska on Aug. 31. He was 56.

At the service, people who came as far away as Victoria and Toronto paid their last respects to a man who influenced the lives of artists and students in so many ways.

"This facility-the department of Indian Fine Arts-is his legacy," said Carmen Robertson, assistant professor of fine arts at the university. "He created this like he created one of his pieces of art. He created it from his heart."

Born in Prince Albert in 1948, Boyer graduated from the University of Saskatchewan Regina Campus (now the University of Regina) in 1971 with a bachelor of education degree specializing in art education. While attending university, Boyer came under the tutelage of Ted Godwin, an art professor and one of the "Regina Five," one of Canada's most influential artists groups.

"Ted told us that when he was teaching art history classes, he would see a sea of white faces, and then notice Bob," said Mary Weimer, owner and curator of Assiniboia Gallery where Boyer exhibited many paintings over the years. "There weren't many Aboriginal students at the university at the time, especially in the art department."

Boyer made the first of his "blanket statement" artworks soon after graduation. These were artworks done on blankets, combining traditional Aboriginal design patterns with elements used in contemporary art. He used the blankets as an artistic and political statement-blankets played an important role in Aboriginal culture in the 18th and 19th centuries when Aboriginal people would barter with fur traders for blankets. Meanwhile, the blankets provided to Aboriginal people by governments would be infested with diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis.

"Much of his early work was very political, making a lot of statements that weren't that common at that time," Weimer said. "As he developed and matured as an artist, he turned to celebrate his heritage."

Boyer also became interested in teaching the next generation of Aboriginal artists. In the late 1970s, he became a professor of Indian art at FNUC, then the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, an academic post he held through the remainder of his life.

"It was an academic area Bob created by himself. He had taken art history classes at the U of R, and realized that the voice of Aboriginal artists at the time was non-existent," Robertson said.

"He conceived of art history from an Aboriginal viewpoint, and started by creating, with the input of Elders, a series of classes and conducting courses celebrating what First Nations artists had to offer."

He was also a big promoter, behind the scenes, of the next generation of Aboriginal artists.

People within Saskatchewan's art community remember him as a warm, kind-hearted man who loved nothing better than driving his Harley Davidson from his home in Rouleau, about 15 kilometres south of Regina, to the city. He also rebuilt motorcycles into "choppers."

Boyer was a fixture on the powwow circuit, attending many events all across North America.

Boyer is survived by his wife of 34 years, Ann, two sons and two grandchildren.