George Melnyk - Writing Alberta: Building on a Literary Identity

the Writing on the WALL

Art in Profile

Michele Hardy, Curator, Nickle Galleries, University of Calgary

ISSN 1700-9995 (Print) ISSN 1927-4351 (Online)

The Art in Profile series showcases the meaningful contributions of Canadian artists and architects, both emerging and established. Each book provides insight into the life and work of an artist or architect who asserts creativity, individuality, and cultural identity.

No. 1 Ancestral Portraits: The Colour of My People Frederick R. McDonald

No. 2 Magic off Main: The Art of Esther Warkov Beverly J. Rasporich

No. 3 The Garden of Art: Vic Cicansky, Sculptor Don Kerr

No. 5 Reta Summers Cowley Terry Fenton

No. 6 Spirit Matters: Ron (Gyo-Zo) Spickett, Artist, Poet, Lay-Priest Geoffrey Simmins

No. 7 Full Spectrum: The Architecture of Jeremy Sturgess Edited by Geoffrey Simmins

No. 8 Cultural Memories and Imagined Futures: The Art of Jane Ash Poitras Pamela McCallum

No. 9 The Art of John Snow Elizabeth Herbert

No. 10 Cover and Uncover: Eric Cameron Edited by Ann Davis

No. 11 Marion Nicoll: Silence and Alchemy Ann Davis and Elizabeth Herbert

No. 12 John C. Parkin, Archives, and Photography: Reflections on the Practice and Presentation of Modern Architecture Linda Fraser, Michael McMordie, and Geoffrey Simmins

No. 13 From Realism to Abstraction: The Art of J. B. Taylor Adriana A. Davies

No. 14 The Writing on the Wall: The Work of Joane Cardinal-Schubert Edited by Lindsey V. Sharman

2017 Lindsey V. Sharman

University of Calgary Press

2500 University Drive NW

Calgary, Alberta

Canada T2N 1N4

press.ucalgary.ca

This book is available as an ebook which is licensed under a Creative Commons license. The publisher should be contacted for any commercial use which falls outside the terms of that license.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Writing on the wall (Calgary, Alta.)

The writing on the wall : the work of Joane Cardinal-Schubert / edited by Lindsey V. Sharman.

(Art in profile, ISSN 1700-9995 ; no. 14)

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-1-55238-949-2 (softcover).ISBN 978-1-55238-950-8 (Open Access PDF).
ISBN 978-1-55238-952-2 (EPUB).ISBN 978-1-55238-953-9 (Kindle).
ISBN 978-1-55238-951-5 (PDF)

1. Cardinal-Schubert, Joane, 19422009. 2. PaintersCanadaBiography. I. Sharman, Lindsey V., editor II. Cardinal-Schubert, Joane, 19422009 . Paintings. Selections. III. Title. IV. Series: Art in profile ; no. 14

ND249.C277W75 2017 759.11 C2017-904971-2

C2017-904972-0

The University of Calgary Press acknowledges the support of the Government of Alberta through the Alberta Media Fund for our publications. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program.

This publication has been supported by Rod Green, Masters Gallery Ltd.

Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens

This book is printed on 100lb Garda Silk paper

Front cover art: Joane Cardinal-Schubert, Rider , 1986.
Courtesy of the Estate of Joane Cardinal-Schubert

Copyediting by Kathryn Simpson

Cover design, page design, and typesetting by Melina Cusano

Ebook conversion by Human Powered Design

table of contents

by Lindsey V. Sharman

by Mike Schubert

by Monique Westra

by David Garneau

by Alisdair MacRae

by Tanya Harnett

by Joane Cardinal-Schubert and Gerald McMaster

1. Rider , 1986

152 x 213 cm

60" x 84"

Oil and graphite on canvas

From the Estate of Joane Cardinal-Schubert

This work is a reaction to Bill C-31, a bill to amend sections of the Indian Act that legally affiliated a married woman not with her own heritage but with either the Indigenous membership or settler heritage of her husband.

Since I was a small child I had tried to equal the skills of my brothers and my father perhaps I noticed a type of inequality perhaps I didnt realize that to be a girl meant that I couldnt do as well, or wasnt as strong. People had a description for girls like me then, I was called a Tom-boy. I figured out this was not a good moniker to have and when my father presented me a gift on my 5th birthday of a statue of a little girl one sock up and one sock down with a definite pout on her face, I yelled that I was going to smash it with a hammer. Besides, the statue was one of a girl with blond hair and blue eyes I knew I didnt look that way. After all these years I still have that statue and guard it. It is precious to me because it is symbolic of the time in my life when I had absolute freedom. Looking at it (I keep it in my wardrobe on the hat shelf just at eye level) it recalls the lake with the water lilies, the Canadian Geese, the ducks, and other water birds, the muskrats and beaver, the wind, the flood waters, the trees and all the smells, and textures of the earth, my parents the way they were then, and my brothers and sister, my grandmother and grandfather.

I am my mother and my father and my sister and my brothers, I am
my grandmothers and my grandfathers and I am an Indian

Joane Cardinal-Schubert, RCA

Song Transforming to Revenge Walker from the artists personal documents

2. Self Portrait Warshirt , n.d.

152.4 x 101.6 cm

60" x 40"

Mixed media on paper

From the Estate of Joane Cardinal-Schubert

Introduction

I would like to extend a formal welcome to you all to this part of the country in the words of John Snow, These Mountains are our Sacred Places. It is a beautiful part of the globe resplendent and bountiful and majestic.

Joane Cardinal-Schubert, Flying with Louis
Making Noise! Keynote address, 2003

This publication was largely written and compiled on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot and the people of the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta. The works illustrated are drawn primarily from collections, both public and private, on this same land which includes the Siksika, the Piikuni, the Kainai, the Tsuu Tina and the Stoney Nakoda First Nations. Dr. Joane Cardinal-Schubert, RCA affirmed herself as Blackfoot-Blood or Kainai. Cardinal-Schubert introduced herself and her work succinctly and aptly in Loretta Todds film, Hands of History by simply stating, I am Joane Cardinal-Schubert and I play a lot.

Cardinal-Schubert melds this playfulness with astute observation and self-assured critique of the world around her based in exhaustive historical knowledge. This combination resulted in tireless engagement with the people and systems of which she was a part and to which she was in proximity. This engagement inspired, educated, intimidated, and even frustrated, but she left her mark and her stories nonetheless. People revel in telling Joane stories and are fascinated by her work and her personality. I am one of countless people whose life paths have been altered by Joane. In 2008, I took a job with Masters Gallery, Ltd in Calgary because they represented her commercially. I helped with her last exhibition with this gallery in the summer of 2009 and together we reinstalled The Lesson , an installation and performance first realized by the artist in 1989 at Articule Gallery, Montreal (fig. 24). This installation created waves that reverberate still, and it is mentioned in several of the following essays. I was surprised by the number of people that were unaware of the history that it presented. I didnt understand it at the time but I have come to realize that Joane was good at planting seeds in just the right places; the commercial dissemination of her work allowed these seeds of subversiveness to take root in peoples homes.