Gerald McMaster facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Gerald McMaster
Born	(1953-03-09) March 9, 1953 (age 72)
Nationality	Canadian, Siksika Nation
Occupation	curator, artist

Gerald Raymond McMaster is a famous curator, artist, and writer from Canada. He is a member of the Plains Cree and the Siksika Nation. He was born on March 9, 1953, in North Battleford. McMaster is now a Professor Emeritus, which means he is a retired professor who is still highly respected. He taught about art and culture, especially Indigenous visual culture. He also used to lead the Wapatah Centre for Indigenous Visual Knowledge at OCAD University.

Growing Up and Learning

Gerald McMaster was born in 1953. He grew up on the Red Pheasant First Nation reserve in Saskatchewan, Canada. His father was Blackfoot, and his mother was Plains Cree. He often listened to radio shows like Lone Ranger and Hopalong Cassidy. He also loved reading western comic books. These stories later inspired his artwork.

McMaster has said that he has lived in cities since he was nine years old. He studied art in the United States, learning Western art styles. Even so, people still call him an "Indian" artist. He has also taken part in traditional powwow dances and songs. But he enjoys many different kinds of music from all over the world.

He studied art at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from 1973 to 1975. He then earned his first university degree in art from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Later, he earned a master's degree in Anthropology and Sociology from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario. He also continued his studies in the Netherlands at the University of Amsterdam.

His Art and Style

McMaster's art often uses humor. He likes to mix traditional Indigenous ideas with modern pop culture. He shows how people can have many different identities. For example, in his art piece Eclectic Baseball, he combined old Plains Indian symbols of war and sacred ceremonies with modern baseball equipment. One of his most famous art series is called The cowboy/Indian Show. He uses methods inspired by old hide paintings, pictographs (pictures drawn on rocks), and petroglyphs (pictures carved into rocks). He mainly works with oil and acrylic paints.

In 1995, he stopped being a full-time artist. He wanted to spend more time curating (organizing art shows), writing about art, and developing new ideas.

Gerald McMaster's Career

Gerald McMaster (on the left) talking with Paul Chaat Smith and Joseph Sanchez.

From 1977 to 1981, McMaster led the Indian Art Program. He also taught at the First Nations University of Canada in Saskatchewan. In 1981, he became a curator of Contemporary Indian Art at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa.

McMaster has organized many important art shows. These shows often featured modern Native art. One famous show was INDIGENA at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. In 2011, he helped organize Inuit Modern at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. In 1995, McMaster curated Edward Poitras's art show at the Biennale di Venezia. Poitras was the first Indigenous artist from Canada to show his work there. In 2012, McMaster was a co-director for the Biennale of Sydney, another big art event.

From 2000 to 2004, he worked at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City. He helped with the museum's collections and organized shows like First American Art (2004) and New Tribe/New York (2005). He was also the curator of Canadian art at the Art Gallery of Ontario from 2004 to 2012.

In 2018, McMaster worked with David Fortin to organize the "Unceded: Voices of the Land" exhibition. This show was part of the Venice Architecture Biennale. It featured the work of Indigenous architects from Canada.

In 2020, McMaster published a book called Iljuwas Bill Reid: Life & Work. This book is one of the first to fully document the career of artist Bill Reid and his connection to his Indigenous background.

McMaster also curated the exhibition "Postcommodity: Time Holds All the Answers". This show featured art by the group Postcommodity. It was on display at Remai Modern from 2021 to 2022.

In 2022, McMaster was the main curator for the "Arctic/Amazon: Networks of Global Indigeneity" exhibition. This show was held at The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery. It featured artists from different continents, including Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Tanya Lukin Linklater, and Pia Arke. A book with the same name was published in 2023, and McMaster helped edit it.

Awards and Special Recognition

Gerald McMaster has received many awards for his important work:

• 2005 - National Aboriginal Achievement Award.
• 2006 - Order of Canada. This is one of Canada's highest honors.
• 2014 - Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the Emily Carr University of Art and Design.
• 2017 - Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Visual Culture and Curatorial Practice. This is a special research position.
• 2019 - Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Saskatchewan.
• 2021 - OCAD University Award for Distinguished Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity.
• 2022 - Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts - Outstanding Contribution Award.

Exhibitions Curated by McMaster

Here are some of the art exhibitions Gerald McMaster has helped organize:

• "In the Shadow of the Sun." Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, 1988.
• "Indigena: Contemporary Native Perspectives." Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, 1992.
• "Venice Bienelle - Edward Poitras." Venice, 1995.
• "Plains Indian Ledger Drawings." Drawing Center, New York City, 1996.
• "Reservation X: The Power of Place." Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, 1997.
• "Norval Morrisseau/Copper Thunderbird: Draw and Tell: Lines of Transformation." Drawing Center, New York City, 2000.
• "First American Art: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of American Indian Art." National Museum of the American Indian, New York City, 2004.
• "New Tribe New York." National Museum of the American Indian, New York City, 2005 to 2006.
• "Inuit Modern." Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2010.
• "Biennale of Sydney." Sydney, 2012.
• "Before and After the Horizon: Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes." National Museum of the American Indian, New York City, 2014.
• "The Faraway Nearby: Photographs of Canada from The New York Times Photo Archive." The Image Centre, Toronto, 2017.
• "Venice Architecture Biennale - Unceded: Voices in the Land." Venice, 2018.
• "Peripheral Vision(s)." McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, 2019 to 2020.
• "Postcommodity: Time Holds All the Answers." Remai Modern, Saskatoon, 2021 to 2022.
• "Arctic/Amazon: Networks of Global Indigeneity." The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, 2022.

Books and Writings

Gerald McMaster has also written and edited many books and articles about art and Indigenous culture. Here are some of them:

• McMaster, Gerald, and others. Robert Houle: Indians from A to Z. Goose Lane Editions, 1990.
• McMaster, Gerald and Lee-Ann Martin. Indigena. Contemporary native perspectives in Canadian art. 1992.
• McMaster, Gerald. Edward Poitras: Canada Xlvi Biennale Di Venezia. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995.
• McMaster, Gerald. Mary Longman: Traces. Kamloops Art Gallery, 1996.
• McMaster, Gerald. Jeffery Thomas: Portraits from the Dancing Grounds. Ottawa Art Gallery, 1996.
• McMaster, Gerald. "Museums and Galleries as Sites for Artistic Intervention", in The Subjects of Art History: Historical Objects in Contemporary Perspectives. Oxford University Press, 1998.
• McMaster, Gerald. The New Tribe: Critical Perspectives and Practices in Aboriginal Contemporary Art. University of Amsterdam, 1999.
• McMaster, Gerald. Reservation X. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999.
• McMaster, Gerald and Clifford E. Trafzer, editors. Native Universe: Voices of Indian America: Native American Tribal Leaders, Writers, Scholars, and Story Tellers. National Geographic, 2004.
• McMaster, Gerald, Bruce Bernstein, Kathleen Ash-Milby, editors. First American Art: The Charles and Valerie Diker Collection of American Indian Art. National Museum of the American Indian, 2004.
• McMaster, Gerald and Joe Baker, editor. Remix: New Modernities in a Post-Indian World. National Museum of the American Indian, 2007.
• McMaster, Gerald. Iljuwas Bill Reid: Life & Work. Art Canada Institute, 2020.
• McMaster, Gerald and Nina Vincent, editors. Arctic/Amazon: Networks of Global Indigeneity. Goose Lane Editions, 2023.