Dale Auger - Medicine Paint: The Art of Dale Auger

MEDICINE PAINT

MEDICINE PAINT

THE ART OF DALE AUGER

FOREWORD BY MARY-BETH LAVIOLETTE

Calling the Loon Dance, 2003, acrylic on canvas, 48" x 48"

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the life, artistic vision, natural spirit and lasting memory of husband, father, grandfather, artist, educator, mentor and author Dale Auger, Ph.D. ( 19582008 ).

Medicine Paint, 2003, acrylic on canvas, 48" x 48"

In the days of long ago, First Nations would come together in large gatherings, not only for social reasons but also for the sharing of knowledge. These international gatherings were ceremonies. The people of one nation would share with those of another their understanding of the worlds they lived in, the Land they walked on, the Beings they shared the Land with, the medicines they gathered from the Trees and Plants, the foods they were nourished by. The songs and dances the nations would share were deeper forms of communication; they were the encyclopedias holding the knowledge of how a people came to walk in the many worlds they inhabited both physically and spiritually. The gatherings enabled all these elements to exist in one place at one time. This is how knowledge was shared among generations and among First Nations. This collection of paintings is my way of sharing knowledge with many nations, multiple generations and diverse communities throughout the world.

INVOCATION

The Prayer, 2006,oil on canvas, 18" x 36"

CONTENTS

Title unknown, 1997, acrylic on canvas, 36" x 36"

FOREWORD

In 2006, barely two years prior to his untimely death, Dale Auger painted Eagle Watcher, an oil on canvas featuring in its upper half a mature bald eagle in flight. About the work, he wrote, When I was a young man, I was given the sacred name Eagle Watcher. The Grandfathers had given me such a name so that I would utilize my vision in everything I did. I have done that. I feel blessed.

It was not unusual for the artist to talk about feeling blessed or to use that spiritual phrase when expressing an affinity for other creatures. Regarding the bird in Loon Dance (2006), Auger wrote, The Creator has truly blessed you, while in another related painting from the same year, the title reads: Bless the Water Beings and the Children. Also an oil on canvas, Bless depicts the loon, but this time the bird is in full display as it dances across the water with outstretched wings. The inspiration for these works was Augers award-winning childrens book Mwkwa Talks to the Loon: A Cree Story, illustrated and written by the artist.

In it, the loon, Mwkwa, intercedes on behalf of the young hunter, Kays, so his people do not starve. Thus, like many other birds portrayed in Augers art, Mwkwa is portrayed as a messenger but with the additional attribute ___________

Untitled sketch, 1986

of being able to function in two worldsskilfully operating, in fact, above or below a northern lakes watery expanse. Dale Auger, having grown up near Albertas second-largest body of water (Lesser Slave Lake), would have instinctively appreciated the ability of this most aquatic of birds. As time went on, it was also an attribute that would come to define his own life as an artist, an educator, a performer and a public speaker as he crossed back and forth between mainstream society and his First Nations heritage, customs and beliefs.

Perhaps the artist was able to do this because he understood where he had come from: a traditional functioning tribe (according to the artist); grandparents who lived off the land and with whom he and five other siblings had lived after his parents separated; a strong mother, Rose, who was a noted Cree medicine woman; and his wife, Grace Auger.

Early on, he and Grace committed themselves to education and the sharing of First Nations knowledge. But between all of this, and as the father to three children with Cree namesSekwan (Spring), Neepin (Summer) and Sohkes (Strong-minded)there was his life-long inclination to make art.

Untitled sketch, 1990

Title unknown, 1990

Title unknown, 1990

As a grown adult, he once compared painting to medicine and considered it a privilege. As a young boy going to school in Faust (near the Driftpile Reserve), a knack for painting brought recognition to him as the school artist and on other occasions, while he daydreamed in class, a place of colour and excitement within which to retreat. At the time, Auger only got as far as grade six, but he would always say that it was his love for art that eventually got him into higher educationculminating later with a doctoral degree in education.

Before obtaining his degrees, however, he was exposed further to Native teachings and knowledge when, as a young teenager, he lived with Rose and his stepfather, Marvin, for two years in a traditional First Nations camp on the historic Kootenay Plains of Alberta. This unique experiencewhich took place during a critical time of growing Native identity and calls for self-government in Canadawas something that his mentor, Alex Janvier, believes was central to what he calls Augers personal wisdom.

One of Canadas most highly regarded artists and a member of the Indian Group of Seven, Janvier ties it together this way:

The interesting part [about Dale] is that he went to all this trouble to acquire high academic credentials, unlike many other Native artists of the past. You could also see there was this sophistication in his art. You could tell he was at art school, the way everything was balanced. It strikes you immediately. But, the one thing that was spectacularly different was that he went way back into Native tradition, he was quite articulate about it... and here I remember him as just one of those little kids at the Smallboy camp!