Medicine Paint: The Art of Dale Auger

Publisher description (Heritage House, 2009): 
One of Canada's most evocative modern painters, Cree artist Dale Auger was a gifted interpreter of First Nations culture, using the cross-cultural medium of art to portray scenes from the everyday to the sacred and dissemble stereotypes about Indigenous peoples. Medicine Paint is a collection of Auger's best work, reproduced in glorious full 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 the master Aboriginal artist. 

Auger uses bold, bright colours in his oil paintings to 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. Infusing his subjects with energy, life and colour, Dale Auger masterfully presents scenes that are powerful, spiritual and inspiring. A bald eagle is majestic in flight against a bright blue sky. An elder makes a solemn offering to the Sky Being. Horses dance playfully in the frame for a sweat lodge. A warrior draws his bow and points it skyward. Dale Auger was a painter from the Bigstone Cree Nation in northern Alberta.

Author Biography (Heritage House): 
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.

Resource format: Art Collection

Age recommendation: Any/All

Keywords:  First Nations, Cree (Nehiyawak), Woodland Cree, Woods Cree, Bigstone Cree Nation, art, paint, bold, bright, land, nature, warrior, smudge, eagle, collection, life's work, water, sacred, knowledge, traditional, western, Creator, share, loon, teacher, Beings, family, brother, healing, message, bird, crow, feathers, blue jay, owl, relatives, horse, beading, mountains, flowers, buffalo, treaty, agreement, generations, baby, residential schools, Indian Act, prayers, dance, butterfly, bear, pipe

Year of publication: 2009

Publisher information: Heritage House