Body of work

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This article was published 18/06/2009 (6172 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the mid-1960s in North Battleford, Sask., an impoverished Cree man in his 30s tried to sell his paintings door-to-door for a few dollars.

Allen Sapp spoke little English. He had attended residential school, but had never learned to read or write. His paintings were clichéd, calendar-style landscapes.

One day he ventured into a clinic run by a Russian-born Jewish doctor, former Winnipegger Allan Gonor. The doctor recognized his talent and urged him to paint what he knew: life on the nearby Red Pheasant Reserve.

The suggestion changed his path.

Sapp, born in 1928, had been raised on the reserve by his grandparents, Albert and Maggie Soonias, who were steeped in the traditional ways of the Plains Cree. They belonged to the generation that had signed treaties and made the transition from nomadic life to farming.

Sapp had an uncanny, photographic memory for scenes from his childhood. Soon, memory paintings of everyday, hard-working life on the reserve in the 1930s and SSRq40s started to pour out of him: images of women cooking, digging for Seneca root or scraping hides; of men repairing fences, threshing hay or hauling water; of kids playing hockey or chasing gophers; and of the community sharing powwows, sundances, prayers, songs and games.

Today, the 81-year-old Sapp is one of Canada’s most distinguished aboriginal painters. He’s an officer of the Order of Canada, recipient of an honorary doctorate, elected member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and the subject of several books and documentaries.

Through the Eyes of the Cree and Beyond, a national touring show of Sapp paintings and associated artifacts, opens Friday at the Manitoba Museum and runs until Sept. 7.

"He has only ever told his own personal story. But it has been claimed as a larger story by his people," says Dean Bauche, longtime director-curator of the Allen Sapp Gallery, which is circulating the show.

The public gallery, founded in 1989, is owned by the city of North Battleford and the province of Saskatchewan.

Sapp, who still lives in North Battleford, is becoming frail. But he still paints, drums, sings and dances, Bauche says. He’s a humble man, regarded as a keeper of stories — a spiritual role to his people. His Cree name is Kiskayetum, meaning "He perceives it."

"First Nations culture, traditionally, has always perceived the role of the artist not as utilitarian, not esthetic, not political, but as spiritual," says Bauche.

The titles of Sapp’s paintings, such as Stopped for a Smoke or Baby Was Crying, suggest "you’re in the middle of a story," the curator notes.

The show includes 55 acrylic paintings and 40 artifacts, including beaded gloves and moccasins, farming and cooking tools, and the actual treaty document, on goatskin, signed in 1876 by Chief Red Pheasant.

Text panels explain the restrictions under which aboriginals were forced to farm. "They couldn’t sell cattle, or slaughter a cow to feed their family, without a permit."

Many of the artifacts are displayed alongside paintings that show them in use. Sapp’s grandmother Maggie’s copper pot, for example, is shown near the painting Waiting for Water to Boil.

The show, created with input from aboriginal consultants, includes a timeline, illustrated with photos, that places Sapp’s family story in historical context.

There’s also a digital component: a three-screen setup shows additional paintings, plus an 18-minute video, narrated by Saskatchewan Cree actor Gordon Tootoosis. In it, Cree elders share memories sparked by Sapp’s artworks.

The elders, in fact, voted on which paintings would be part of Through the Eyes of the Cree and Beyond.

Many aboriginal viewers are deeply moved by the show’s honouring of their values and culture, Bauche says. But non-aboriginal people, especially seniors, are just as engaged because the images are universal, capturing a rural way of life centred on hard work, family and community.

"His work is a cultural bridge," says Bauche. "Many people from European backgrounds say, ‘This is what my parents did.’

"(Men) who have no interest in art come to the Allen Sapp Gallery…. I see many women bringing their husbands in kicking and screaming, and then they can’t get them out of there, because they identify with it."

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

Tapping into Sapp

 

Sapp once sold his paintings on the street for $5. Today, his significant works are worth $7,000 to $10,000 — still quite modest for today’s art market, says curator Dean Bauche. His most collectible works are those from the late 1960s and 1970s.

 

Sapp paints in a realistic, narrative style, totally different from that of aboriginal painters such as Norval Morrisseau and Daphne Odjig, whose work is often based on myths and legends. Curator Bauche says that’s probably one reason why Sapp has not received as much critical acclaim.

 

Sapp’s honours include a 2003 Governor General’s Award for children’s book illustration. But he has not yet been the subject of a show at a major art institution like the National Gallery of Canada. "That’s something I look forward to," says Bauche.

 

Many Sapp works and the video that accompanies the touring exhibition can be viewed at the Virtual Museum of Canada. Go to www.virtualmuseum.ca and search Allen Sapp.

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