Introduction

This lesson plan presents Canadian contemporary art by artists of Aboriginal ancestry.

"Contemporary Amerindian art is an art of survival, of resistance, of celebration, deeply rooted in the great and sacred tradition of the millennium, the art of the indigenous peoples is neither folkloric nor backward-looking: on the contrary, it is the carrier of meaning and the creator of modernity, and is resolutely turned towards the future."
Robert Houle, Saulteaux artist Aboriginal activism and shift in attitude of Canada's cultural institutions.

Over the past forty years, contemporary art by artists of Aboriginal ancestry has become increasingly prominent on the Canadian art scene. In part, this is the result of a rise in Aboriginal activism and subsequent shift in the attitude of Canada's cultural institutions. The art community in this country has become much more pluralistic and multicultural in recent decades. Aboriginal artists in Canada have established their place in the mainstream, and their voices, concerns, and perceptions have become an integral element of visual expression in Canada. Until recently, public art galleries in Canada did not own many pieces of Aboriginal art, either contemporary or traditional. Such works as they did have were more often displayed for their ethnographic relevance than for their aesthetic merit. Since the 1960s, a growing determination on the part of Aboriginal artists that their work be viewed as art has led Canada's cultural institutions to review their collection policies and perceptions. As well, the younger emerging artists had art school training and were producing work that had more affinity, stylistically - more apparent artistic relevance - to the cultural mainstream. Together these tendencies led to a gradual move away from the classification of Aboriginal art as anthropological material and a new focus on its aesthetic qualities. At the same time, the raised political consciousness of the 1960s produced a strong desire for self-determination among Aboriginal groups. In an atmosphere of struggle and resistance, artists became lecturers and administrators in new Indian Art centres. Art schools were created, and several important Aboriginal curators emerged. Aboriginal scholars began to write their own histories and teach new courses in the universities.

Title:

Aboriginal Voices in Canadian Contemporary Art

Theme:

Aboriginal contemporary art in Canada

Summary:

Six Aboriginal artists in Canada examine their past and present culture and explore their place in the contemporary milieu.