Got a press release from the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa today noting that a retrospective exhibition by the late Saskatchewan artist Bob Boyer (pictured) was opening there today. The show was organized by the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina and curated by Lee-Anne Martin, and features 58 art works produced between 1968-2004.
Boyer was a well-known artist and educator in Saskatchewan who died at the age of 56 while attending a pow wow in the United States. To give you a sense of the man and his art, here’s a brief excerpt from the museum’s press release:
Boyer was born in 1948 in Saskatchewan, and served as a faculty member of the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (now the First Nations University of Canada) in Regina from 1978 until his death in 2004. He had a far-reaching influence on countless artists and students, and his exhibition history paralleled the history of contemporary Aboriginal art in Canada.
While Boyer explored many artistic approaches and worked in a variety of media during his career, he is perhaps best known for his acclaimed series of blanket paintings. Using flannel blankets as the painting surface, he combined elements of historical Northern Plains design with personal symbolism and contemporary references. The exhibition features many of these powerful “blanket-statements” depicting the harmful impacts of the colonial process on Aboriginal philosophies, land, religions and cultures.
For more information on the exhibition Bob Boyer — His Life’s Work, which runs until Nov. 4 in Ottawa, here’s a link to the museum’s website.
