Gerald McMaster
Encyclopedia
Gerald R. McMaster is a Plains Cree and Blackfoot
curator, artist, and author. He is enrolled in the Siksika First Nation. Currently he lives in Toronto
, Canada
and is curator of Canadian art
at the Art Gallery of Ontario
.
reserve in Saskatchewan
, Canada. His father is Blackfoot, while his mother is Plains Cree. He says he grew up listening to the series of Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy
on the radio, while avidly reading western comic book
s – all of which would later influence his art.
He says, "I've been an urban Indian since the age of nine. I've attended art school in the United States, trained in the Western tradition; yet I am referred to as an 'Indian' artist. I have danced and sung in the traditional powwow
style of Northern Plains, yet my musical tastes are global..."
McMaster studied art at the Institute of American Indian Arts
in Santa Fe, New Mexico
from 1973 to 1975. He earned his BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design
in Minneapolis, Minnesota
. He earned his Masters Degree in Anthropology and Sociology at Carleton University
in Ottawa, Ontario and continued his studies at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands
.
s inspire his methods of representation. He works in oil and acrylic.
In 1995, he ceased being a full time artist in order to devote more time to curating, critical theory, and writing.
in Saskatchewan. Beginning in 1981, he was curator of Contemporary Indian Art at the Canadian Museum of Civilization
in Ottawa.
McMaster has curated a number of thought-provoking contemporary Native art shows, including INDIGENIA at the Canadian Museum of Civilization
. In 1995, McMaster curated Edward Poitras's exhibition at the Biennale di Venezia in 2005. Poitras, of Gordon First Nation
, was the first aboriginal artist to represent Canada in the Biennale di Venezia.
He served as the director's special assistant and deputy assistant director for cultural resources at the National Museum of the American Indian
in New York City
from 2000 to 2004. He worked with the permanent collections there, as well as curating the shows, First American Art in 2004 and New Tribe/New York in 2005.
. That same year he also received the national Aboriginal Achievement Award.
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsítapi is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana....
curator, artist, and author. He is enrolled in the Siksika First Nation. Currently he lives in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and is curator of Canadian art
Canadian art
Canadian art refers to the visual as well as plastic arts originating from the geographical area of contemporary Canada...
at the Art Gallery of Ontario
Art Gallery of Ontario
Under the direction of its CEO Matthew Teitelbaum, the AGO embarked on a $254 million redevelopment plan by architect Frank Gehry in 2004, called Transformation AGO. The new addition would require demolition of the 1992 Post-Modernist wing by Barton Myers and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg...
.
Early life and education
Gerald McMaster was born in 1953 and grew up on the Red Pheasant First NationRed Pheasant First Nation
Red Pheasant First Nation is a Cree Nation located 33 km south of North Battleford.Chief Wuttunee's people were living along the Battle River when the Numbered Treaties were being negotiated...
reserve in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, Canada. His father is Blackfoot, while his mother is Plains Cree. He says he grew up listening to the series of Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of popular short stories and twenty-eight novels based on the character....
on the radio, while avidly reading western comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
s – all of which would later influence his art.
He says, "I've been an urban Indian since the age of nine. I've attended art school in the United States, trained in the Western tradition; yet I am referred to as an 'Indian' artist. I have danced and sung in the traditional powwow
PowWow
PowWow is a wireless sensor network mote developed by the Cairn team of IRISA/INRIA. The platform is currently based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard radio transceiver and on an MSP430 microprocessor...
style of Northern Plains, yet my musical tastes are global..."
McMaster studied art at the Institute of American Indian Arts
Institute of American Indian Arts
The Institute of American Indian Arts is a college focused on Native American art. It is situated in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is congressionally chartered, and was created by an executive order of former American President John F. Kennedy in 1962...
in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
from 1973 to 1975. He earned his BFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
Minneapolis College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit four-year and postgraduate college specializing in the visual arts. Located in the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, MCAD currently enrolls approximately 1,000 students offering curriculum that includes...
in Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
. He earned his Masters Degree in Anthropology and Sociology at Carleton University
Carleton University
Carleton University is a comprehensive university located in the capital of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario. The enabling legislation is The Carleton University Act, 1952, S.O. 1952. Founded as a small college in 1942, Carleton now offers over 65 programs in a diverse range of disciplines. Carleton has...
in Ottawa, Ontario and continued his studies at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Artwork
McMaster draws and paints with humor and an ironic juxtaposition of traditional and contemporary pop culture elements. Identities, fluid and multiple, are central to his art practice. In his piece Eclectic Baseball, "traditional Plains Indian symbols of warfare and sacred ceremony were freely mixed with symbols and actual equipment of contemporary baseball." One of his best known series is The cowboy/Indian Show. Hide painting, pictographs, and petroglyphPetroglyph
Petroglyphs are pictogram and logogram images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, and abrading. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions of the technique to refer to such images...
s inspire his methods of representation. He works in oil and acrylic.
In 1995, he ceased being a full time artist in order to devote more time to curating, critical theory, and writing.
Career
From 1977 to 1981, McMaster coordinated the Indian Art Program and was an instructor at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College at the University of ReginaUniversity of Regina
The University of Regina is a public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchewan as a junior college in 1925, and was disaffiliated...
in Saskatchewan. Beginning in 1981, he was curator of Contemporary Indian Art at the Canadian Museum of Civilization
Canadian Museum of Civilization
The Canadian Museum of Civilization is Canada's national museum of human history and the most popular and most-visited museum in Canada....
in Ottawa.
McMaster has curated a number of thought-provoking contemporary Native art shows, including INDIGENIA at the Canadian Museum of Civilization
Canadian Museum of Civilization
The Canadian Museum of Civilization is Canada's national museum of human history and the most popular and most-visited museum in Canada....
. In 1995, McMaster curated Edward Poitras's exhibition at the Biennale di Venezia in 2005. Poitras, of Gordon First Nation
Gordon First Nation
The George Gordon First Nation is located near the village of Punnichy, Saskatchewan, in Canada. The First Nation has a population of 2,774 people, 1,060 of whom live on-reserve and 1,714 who live off-reserve. Elected Chief Glen Pratt leads the First Nation...
, was the first aboriginal artist to represent Canada in the Biennale di Venezia.
He served as the director's special assistant and deputy assistant director for cultural resources at the National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of the American Indian
The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution that is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native Americans of the Western Hemisphere...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
from 2000 to 2004. He worked with the permanent collections there, as well as curating the shows, First American Art in 2004 and New Tribe/New York in 2005.
Awards and honors
In 2005, McMaster was awarded Canada's highest honor, the Order of CanadaOrder of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
. That same year he also received the national Aboriginal Achievement Award.
Selected published works
- McMaster, Gerald and Clifford E. Trafzer, eds. Native Universe: Voices of Indian America: Native American Tribal Leaders, Writers, Scholars, and Story Tellers. National Geographic, 2008. ISBN 978-1426203350.
- McMaster, Gerald and Joe Baker, ed. Remix: New Modernities in a Post-Indian World. Washington DC: National Museum of the American Indian, 2007. ISBN 978-1933565101.
- McMaster, Gerald, Bruce Bernstein, Kathleen Ash-Milby, eds. First American Art: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of American Indian Art. Washington DC: National Museum of the American Indian, 2004. ISBN 978-0295984032.
- McMaster, Gerald. Reservation X. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999. ISBN 978-0295977751.
- McMaster, Gerald. The New Tribe: Critical Perspectives and Practices in Aboriginal Contemporary Art. Amsterdam: Acedemisch Proefschrift, University of Amsterdam, 1999. ASIN B001ELWQLK.
- McMaster, Gerald. "Museums and Galleries as Sites for Artistic Intervention," In The Subjects of Art History: Historical Objects in Contemporary Perspectives. Eds. Mark A. Cheetham, Michael Ann Holly, and Keith Moxey. Oxford: Oxford University Press: 250-261. 1998.
- McMaster, Gerald. Jeffery Thomas: Portraits from the Dancing Grounds. Exhibition catalogue. Ottawa: Ottawa Art Gallery, 1996
- McMaster, Gerald. Mary Longman: Traces. Exhibition catalogue. Kamloops, BC: Kamloops Art Gallery, 1996.
- McMaster, Gerald and Lee-Ann Martin. Indigena. Contemporary native perspectives in Canadian art. 1992. ASIN B0010YFFSC.
- McMaster, Gerald, Jennifer S. H. Brown, Clara Harfittay, and Shirley J. R. Madill. Robert Houle: Indians from A to Z. Goose Lance Editions, 1990. ISBN 978-0889151567.
- McMaster, Gerald. Edward Poitras: Canada Xlvi Biennale Di Venezia. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0660507538.
External links
- Gerald McMaster's art, on Britesites: http://www.britesites.com/native_artist_interviews/gmc21.htm http://www.britesites.com/native_artist_interviews/gmc22.htm http://www.britesites.com/native_artist_interviews/gmc23.htm http://www.britesites.com/native_artist_interviews/gmc24.htm http://www.britesites.com/native_artist_interviews/gmc25.htm