Gerald Raymond McMaster (born 9 March 1953, in North Battleford) is a curator, artist, and author and a Plains Cree member of the

Siksika Nation The Siksika Nation ( bla, Siksiká) is a First Nation in southern Alberta, Canada. The name ''Siksiká'' comes from the Blackfoot words ''sik'' (black) and ''iká'' (foot), with a connector ''s'' between the two words. The plural form of ''Sik ...

.Abbot, Larry
Gerald McMaster: Plains Cree.
''A Time of Visions.'' (retrieved 20 Nov 2009) McMaster is a professor at

OCAD University Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within d ...

and is the adjunct curator at the

Remai Modern Remai Modern is a public art museum in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The art museum is situated along the west bank of the South Saskatchewan River, at the River Landing development in Saskatoon's Central Business District. The museum's bui ...

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as ...

Early life and education

Gerald McMaster was born in 1953 and grew up on the

Red Pheasant First Nation The Red Pheasant Cree Nation ( cr, ᒥᑭᓯᐘᒌᕽ, mikisiwacîhk) is a Plains Cree First Nations band government in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The band's sole reserve, Red Pheasant 108, is south of North Battleford. History ...

reserve in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, Canada. His father is Blackfoot, while his mother is Plains Cree. He says he grew up listening to the ''

Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in ...

'' and ''

Hopalong Cassidy Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of short stories and novels based on the character. Mulford portrayed the character as rude, dangerous, and rough-talking. He wa ...

'' on the radio, while avidly reading western

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s – all of which would later influence his art. McMaster 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 A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Powwows today allow Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures. Powwows may be private or p ...

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 Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label= Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. The name “S ...

, from 1973 to 1975. He earned his BFA from the

Minneapolis College of Art and Design The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer ...

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origi ...

. He earned his master's degree in Anthropology and Sociology at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

,Ryan, 297 and continued his studies at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

.Newlands, 210

Artwork

McMaster draws and paints with humour 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,

pictograph A pictogram, also called a pictogramme, pictograph, or simply picto, and in computer usage an icon, is a graphic symbol that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and g ...

s, and

petroglyph A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...

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 The First Nations University of Canada (abbreviated as FNUniv) is a post-secondary institution and federated college of the University of Regina, based in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. FNUniv operates three campuses within the province, ...

at the

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public university, 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 Unive ...

in Saskatchewan. Beginning in 1981, he was curator of Contemporary Indian Art at the

Canadian Museum of Civilization The Canadian Museum of History (french: Musée canadien de l’histoire) is a national museum on anthropology, Canadian history, cultural studies, and ethnology in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The purpose of the museum is to promote the heritage of C ...

in Ottawa. McMaster has curated a number of thought-provoking contemporary Native art shows, including ''INDIGENA'' at the

. In 2011, he curated with Ingo Hessel ''Inuit Modern'' at the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Bev ...

in Toronto. In 1995, McMaster curated

Edward Poitras Edward Poitras (born in 1953) is a Métis artist based in Saskatchewan. His work, mixed-media sculptures and installations, explores the themes of history, treaties, colonialism, and life both in urban spaces and nature.Biennale di Venezia The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

''. In 2005, Poitras, of

Gordon First Nation The George Gordon First Nation ( cr, ᐳᓵᑲᓇᒌᕽ ''posâkanacîhk'') is a First Nations band government located near the village of Punnichy, Saskatchewan, in Canada. The nation has an enrolled population of 3,752 people, 1,191 of whom l ...

, 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 The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

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."Native Networks: Gerald McMaster."
''National Museum of the American Indian.'' (retrieved 20 Nov 2009) He was curator of

Canadian art Canadian art refers to the visual (including painting, photography, and printmaking) as well as plastic arts (such as sculpture) originating from the geographical area of contemporary Canada. Art in Canada is marked by thousands of years of hab ...

at the

until 2012, when he was succeeded by Andrew Hunter.

Awards and honors

* 2005 - the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

. * 2005 - National Aboriginal Achievement Award. * 2022 - Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts.

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. . * McMaster, Gerald and Joe Baker, ed. ''Remix: New Modernities in a Post-Indian World''. Washington DC: National Museum of the American Indian, 2007. . * 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. . * McMaster, Gerald. ''Reservation X''. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1999. . * 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. . * McMaster, Gerald. ''Edward Poitras: Canada Xlvi Biennale Di Venezia''. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995. .ACC/CCA , Bibliography – M.
''Aboriginal Curatorial Collective''. (retrieved 20 Nov 2009)

Notes

References

*Newlands, Anne. ''Canadian Paintings, Prints and Drawings''. Richmond Hill, Ontario: Firefly Books, 2007. . *Ryan, Allan J. ''The Trickster Shift: Humour and Irony in Contemporary Native Art''. Victoria: University of British Columbia Press, 1999. .
G. R. Mcmaster, 1953–
at the

''Album Academicum'' website

External links

Gerald McMaster's art
on Britesites

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMaster, Gerald 1953 births Living people First Nations painters Artists from Ontario Canadian art curators Indigenous curators of the Americas Members of the Order of Canada 20th-century First Nations writers Carleton University alumni University of Amsterdam alumni Institute of American Indian Arts alumni Indspire Awards 21st-century First Nations writers Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners