About the Book
A stunning retrospective of the late Cree artist Dale Auger, featuring more than 150 of his most powerful and inspiring oil paintings.
Dale Auger was a gifted interpreter of Cree culture, using the cross-cultural medium of art to portray scenes from the everyday to the sacred and dissemble stereotypes about Indigenous Peoples. His use of bold, bright colours in oil painting explore the intricate links between spirituality and the natural laws of the land. Birds, beasts, and human forms are carried from the dreamworld onto canvas, their spirits channeled through his paintbrush and presented in brilliant yellows, mystic blues, vibrant reds, and swirls of black.
Medicine Paint is an epic collection of Auger’s best work, reproduced in glorious colour and reflecting the evolution of the artist’s distinctive style. Including a revealing look back at his life and professional development, the book is a stunning tribute to this master artist, who passed away in 2008.
About the Author(s)
Dale Auger (1958–2008) was a Sakaw Cree artist and storyteller from the Bigstone Cree Nation in northern Alberta. He was born in High Prairie, Alberta, near that province’s second-largest body of water, Lesser Slave Lake. He attended the Alberta College of Art and the University of Calgary, obtaining a master’s degree in education and a PhD in education. Mwâkwa Talks to the Loon was named Aboriginal Children’s Book of the Year at the 2006 Anskohk Aboriginal Literature Festival and Book Awards and also received the 2007 R. Ross Annett Award for Children’s Literature.
Reviews
“Medicine Paint: The Art of Dale Auger is powerful. This collection of works and writing adds to the history of Indigenous art and voices in Canada. Dale was a prolific artist, the quality of the works presented in this book demonstrates the depth and breadth of his explorations, it is a journey into the Indigenous cosmos; the teachings so beautifully shared are medicine for us all.”
—Adrian A. Stimson, winner of the Governor General's Award for Visual and Media Arts and Board Chair of the Alberta University of the Arts
“Dale Auger was what Plains Elders call a real human being. Raised among the old ones but also earning a PhD with the new ones, he embodied two-eyed seeing. The paintings and words in this handsome volume offer glimpses of the knowledge and vision he carried and shared so generously.”
—David Garneau, artist, curator, writer, and winner of the Governor General’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Visual and Media Art
“The painting of Dale Auger welcomes us into a spirit world. Like a warm home, he invites us to stay awhile; visit, drink tea and let the stories and colour unfold.”
—Tanya Harnett, artist, professor, and member of the Carry-The-Kettle First Nations
“Dale Auger’s artwork is stunningly beautiful.”
—Globe and Mail
"The paintings of Dale Auger are strong medicine . . . a showcase of over 100 paintings."
—Claire Cummings, Alberta Views
"An exquisite new release . . . birds, beasts, and human forms are carried from the dreamworld onto canvas, their spirits channeled through his paintbrush . . . a stunning tribute to the master Aboriginal artist."
—Western Native News
"Magnificent. . . [Auger] included short anecdotes or legends. . . that give fascinating background to his process and the symbolism inherent in the subjects."
—Canadian Aboriginal Books for Schools catalogue
