Robert Houle (born 1947) is a

Saulteaux The Saulteaux (pronounced , or in imitation of the French pronunciation , also written Salteaux, Saulteau and other variants), otherwise known as the Plains Ojibwe, are a First Nations band government in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan ...

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

Canadian artist, curator, critic,"Robert Houle."
''National Gallery of Canada CyberMuse.'' (retrieved 21 March 2011) and educator. Houle has had an active curatorial and artistic practice since the mid-1970s. He played an important role in bridging the gap between contemporary First Nations artists and the broader Canadian art scene through his writing and involvement in early important high-profile exhibitions such as ''Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations'' at the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, 1992). As an artist, Houle has shown both nationally and internationally. He is predominantly a painter working in the tradition of Abstraction, yet he has also embraced a pop sensibility by incorporating everyday images and text into his works. His work addresses lingering aspects of colonialism and their effects on First Nation peoples. Houle often appropriates historical photographs and texts, repurposing and combining them with Anishnaabe language and traditionally used materials such as porcupine quills within his works.

Biography

Houle was born in

St. Boniface, Manitoba ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

on 9 March 1947 to parents Gladys and Solomon Houle."Robert Houle"
, ''Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art.'' (retrieved 21 March 2011) He was the eldest of fifteen children, all of whom were raised

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

and

. From grades one through eight he attended the Oblates of Mary Immaculate and Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Hyacinth School Residential Schools in Sandy Bay (Kaa-wii-kwe-tawang-kak) . Houle earned his Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the

University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

International Summer Academy focusing on painting and drawing. In 1975 he earned his Bachelor of Education degree in Art Education at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Univer ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

. While studying at McGill he taught art classes at the Indian Way School in

Kahnawake The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (french: Territoire Mohawk de Kahnawake, in the Mohawk language, ''Kahnawáˀkye'' in Tuscarora) is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Queb ...

. In 1991 Houle took a position as the first professor of Indigenous Studies at The Ontario College of Art (now OCAD University), where he taught for fifteen years, mentoring artists including

Shelley Niro Shelley Niro (born 1954) is a Mohawk filmmaker and visual artist from New York and Ontario.

Bonnie Devine Bonnie Devine is a Serpent River Ojibwa installation artist, performance artist, sculptor, curator, and writer from Serpent River First Nation, who lives and works in Toronto, Ontario.Michael Belmore
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Artwork

Houle's paintings have been exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, and the

Stedelijk Museum The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

. In Canada, he has shown work at the

Mendel Art Gallery The Mendel Art Gallery was a major creative cultural centre in City Park, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Operating from 1964 to 2015, it housed a permanent collection of more than 7,500 works of art. The gallery was managed by the city-owned Saskatoon ...

, the

Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art The Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada (MOCA), formerly known as the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA), is a museum and art gallery in Toronto, Ontario. It is an independent, registered charitable organization. ...

, the Carleton University Art Gallery, the

Agnes Etherington Art Centre The Agnes Etherington Art Centre is located in Kingston, Ontario, in the heart of the historic campus of Queen's University. Situated on traditional Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Territory, the gallery has received a number of awards for its exhib ...

, Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario,

La Biennale de Montreal La Biennale de Montréal (BNL MTL) is a bi-annual multidisciplinary arts event to confront the Quebec and Canadian art with those of foreign artists around common issues and concepts corresponding to ''"the timeliness of the art"''. Founded in 1 ...

, the

Art Gallery of Peterborough The Art Gallery of Peterborough is a free admission, non-profit public art gallery in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. A registered charity that depends on the support of its members, it was founded in 1974 by an independent board of volunteers. In ...

and the

Winnipeg Art Gallery The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is an art museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Its permanent collection includes over 24,000 works from Canadian, Indigenous Canadian, and international artists. The museum also holds the world's largest collect ...

. His artwork has been collected throughout Canada and in parts of the United States and Australia.

Career

From 1977 to 1981 Houle was the first Indigenous curator of contemporary Indigneous Art at the

Canadian Museum of Civilisation 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 ...

(now the Canadian Museum of History) in Ottawa. His work at the CMC consisted of researching and writing about the pre-existing collection, as well as advocating for new acquisitions and developing his own practice. He travelled widely in pursuit of this work, becoming close with

Abraham Anghik Ruben Abraham Anghik Ruben (born 1951, in Inuvialuit) is a sculptor of partly Alaskan Native ancestry. Ruben was born south of the hamlet of Paulatuk in the Inuvik Region east of the Mackenzie River Delta in the Northwest Territories, Canada in 1951. ...

, Robert Davidson, Norval Morrisseau,

Carl Beam Carl Beam (May 24, 1943 – July 30, 2005), born Carl Edward Migwans, made Canadian art history as the first artist of Native Ancestry ( Ojibwe), to have his work purchased by the National Gallery of Canada as Contemporary Art. A major retrosp ...

Daphne Odjig Daphne Odjig, D.Litt LL. D. (September 11, 1919 – October 1, 2016), was a Canadian First Nations artist of Odawa- Potawatomi- English heritage. Her paintings are often characterized as Woodlands Style or as the pictographic style. She was ...

Alex Janvier Alex Simeon Janvier, LL.D (; born February 28, 1935) is a First Nation artist in Canada. As a member of the commonly referred to " Indian Group of Seven", Janvier is a pioneer of contemporary Canadian Aboriginal art in Canada. Career Alex Janv ...

, and Robert Boyer in the process. However, the inhospitable, often irresponsible culture at museum began to take its toll, and after three years, Houle resigned, later stating:

I realized that artistically and aesthetically I was in hostile territory. There was no place to exhibit the contemporary works I bought for the museum, and I just could not accept that, as a practising artist, what I made had to be relegated to the realm of anthropology.

He has curated and co-curated ground-breaking exhibitions such as ''New Work By a New Generation,'' at the

Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery The MacKenzie Art Gallery (MAG; french: Musee d’art MacKenzie) is an art museum located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The museum occupies the multipurpose T. C. Douglas Building, situated at the edge of the Wascana Centre. The building holds ...

in Regina in 1982, and ''Land Spirit Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada'' in 1992. He has been a visiting artist at

Hood College Hood College is a private college in Frederick, Maryland. In fall 2018, Hood enrolled 2,052 students (1,092 undergraduate students; 960 graduate students). Thirty-eight percent of students are either members of under-represented racial or ethnic ...

Gettysburg College Gettysburg College is a private liberal arts college in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1832, the campus is adjacent to the Gettysburg Battlefield. Gettysburg College has about 2,600 students, with roughly equal numbers of men and women. ...

, the Heard Museum, the

McMichael Canadian Art Collection The McMichael Canadian Art Collection (MCAC) is an art museum in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located on a property in Kleinburg, an unincorporated village in Vaughan. The property includes the museum's main building, a sculpture garde ...

and the

. For years, he taught as an instructor at the

Ontario College of Art and Design 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 ...

, from which he is now retired. He was made a member of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor Gener ...

. Houle's considerable influence as an artist, curator, teacher and writer have led to his being awarded the Janet Braide Memorial Award for Excellence in Canadian art History in 2003; the 2001 Toronto Arts award for the Visual Arts; the Eiteljorg Fellowship in 2003 and in 2006. In 2015 he was awarded the Governor General's Award for Visual Arts.

Collections

Houle's work is in public collections including 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 ...

, Heard Museum, Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre,

, and

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

."Robert Houle Bio"
, Tamarind Institute, University of New Mexico, 3 April 2009 (retrieved 21 March 2011)

Notes

External links