Artists first, then Indians

Native artists rejecting narrow label

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Too many Native artists are wasting time and energy proving they're Indians instead of trying to be good artists, says a member of a jury appointed by the Indian

Art Centre in Ottawa.

"It's ridiculous," said Alfred Youngman, who is professor of Native studies at

the University of Lethbridge.

"Hungarians don't spend time proving they're Hungarians, Germans don't try to prove they're Germans and so on."

But, he added, "we've had this Indian trip laid on us since Columbus. We have

to fight through that to get our work done."

Youngman, Gerald McMaster, curator of contemporary Indian Art at the National Museum of Civilization, and artist Alex Janvier of Cold Lake, were in Edmonton to select works for the centre's permanent collection from the recent Asum Mena Festival of Indian Art exhibition sponsored by the Alberta Indian Arts and Crafts Society.

All three men have received critical acceptance of their art, but none produce what is generally thought of as "Indian art."

The "Indian art" label was started by the media, Youngman claims, because people who were writing about art had to find a term to use in differentiating between works on Indian artists who follow their own unique visions, and Anglo artists who followed European traditions.

That label is unfortunate and misleading, they agreed. Indian artists' work should be judged by the same criteria as any other form of fine art, Janvier said.

Everyone looks at work by Indian artists from a different perspective, McMaster said.

Anthropologists have one view, he said, ethnologists have another.

"Before, it was the basic image of an Indian on a horse.

"We have to get further into the psyche of the Indian artist... that's the job of the art historian.

"We've gotten tired of our art being looked at superficially."

Although he is aware of the eloquence with which many Indian artists speak through their art, others "are creating what they think will sell," McMaster said, referring to the beads-blankets-and-pseudo-totem syndrome hatched by tourists' stereotyped concepts.

However, he sees many of the younger Indian artists striking out on their own artistically, and even though traces of traditional imagery may be found in the contemporary oeuvre, it isn't artistic mimicry; the source is a primeval spring of cultural heritage.

McMaster said Janvier was a pioneer in developing a non-traditional artists style, one that gives no clue to the artist's ethnic background.

The soul-searching art of the '60s, when the issue of Indian rights was branded

on the consciousness of many Anglos for the first time, has been diluted; and politically motivated artistic expression may be a thing of the past, said Janvier who was, in his youth, an activist in frequent conflict with the federal government. For many years he signed his work with his treaty number instead of his name as a symbolic gesture of his rebellion against what he considered unfeeling government.

Except for less than a handful of exceptions, art by Indian artists has yet to find

a place in Canada's restrained and Anglo-executive world of fine art.

McMaster said government assistance in setting up co-ops and the homogeneity

of the Inuit are factors that have helped create an international market for the Northern artists' work.

The individuality of Indian people may be a liability when it comes to similar co-operative efforts, McMaster indicated. But it is the Indianness that is the very sinew of their art.

Asked why art by Indian artists isn't as acceptable in Canada as it is in the U.S.A., Youngman said there are probably many reasons.

"One is prejudice of the buying public, a lack of education and understanding. Another is the lack of competent writers to review art by Indian artists.

"It's one of the most difficult to write about because it's not your usual arm form. There's a lot of footwork to be done."

He also cited the lack of effective marketing of Indin art in Canada compared to the U.S.

Both Youngman and McMaster are alumni of the Institute of American Indian Art in Sante Fe, NM.

"So-called Canadian artists wish they were Indians," Janvier said. "Their things (artistic, style) happened in Europe."

He hints that only Native Canadians can be called "Canadian artists."

"Art by Indian artists is just starting to find acceptance on an intellectual level," Janvier said. That has been possible through the encouragement of such organizations at the Alberta Indian Arts and Crafts Society which co-sponsored the Edmonton Exhibition, he added.

"People in China know more about Indian art then Canadians," said Janvier, who was one of three Canadian artists and the only Indian artist on a cultural exchange with China last year.

"We have to wait until Canadians discover Indian art."