TEACHER RESOURCE GUIDE FOR GRADES 7–12 LEARN ABOUT DECOLONIZATION through the art of ROBERT HOULE DECOLONIZATION through the art of ROBERT HOULE TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE 1 PAGE 2 PAGE 3 RESOURCE WHO IS TIMELINE OF OVERVIEW ROBERT HOULE? HISTORICAL EVENTS & ARTIST’S LIFE PAGE 4 PAGE 8 PAGE 10 LEARNING CULMINATING HOW ROBERT ACTIVITIES TASK HOULE MAKES ART: STYLE & TECHNIQUE PAGE 11 READ ONLINE DOWNLOAD ADDITIONAL ROBERT HOULE: ROBERT HOULE RESOURCES LIFE & WORK IMAGE FILE BY SHIRLEY MADILL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE DECOLONIZATION through the art of ROBERT HOULE RESOURCE OVERVIEW This teacher resource guide has been designed to complement the Art Canada Institute online art book Robert Houle: Life & Work by Shirley Madill. The artworks within this guide and images required for the learning activities and culminating task can be found in the Robert Houle Image File provided. Robert Houle (b.1947) is one of Canada’s most celebrated contemporary artists. He is of Anishnabe Saulteaux heritage and a member of Sandy Bay First Nation, Treaty 1 Territory, in Manitoba. Houle’s work examines colonialism in Canada, from events that took place decades ago to ongoing practices, and he has described his work as a form of decolonization. Decolonization has been defined in different ways (it can be a personal transformation; a literal repatriation of land, goods, or cultural objects; or a visual or symbolic change within a space, institution, or community), but fundamentally it is about confronting colonialism by challenging it and undermining it, a process that can be empowering. This guide explores how Houle has confronted colonialism by appropriating colonial images and documents and by creating artworks that focus on Indigenous experience. Curriculum Connections Grades 7–8 Social Studies Grades 9–12 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Studies Grades 9–12 History Grades 9–12 Visual Arts Themes Creative responses to historical events and treaties Decolonization Indigenous experiences of major historical events Importance of treaties nationally and within students’ communities Teaching Exercises The exercises in this guide explore decolonization through Robert Houle’s art, and they challenge students to explore their personal responsibilities to Fig 1. Robert Houle, Muhnedobe uhyahyuk understand Indigenous history in their own communities. (Where the gods are present) (Matthew), 1989. This work was created during Houle’s artist residency at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Learning Activity #1: Revisiting Ways of Representing It is composed of four large panels (the other panels are titled Philip, Bartholomew, and Canadian History (page 4) Thomas); its title celebrates the origins of the Learning Activity #2: Exploration of Robert Houle’s Premises for name “Manitoba.” Self-Rule: Treaty No. 1 (page 6) Culminating Task: Creative Response to a Treaty Text (page 8) A Note on Using This Guide Decolonization is a complex and challenging topic, and it should be emphasized that this subject requires ongoing learning. This learning can be greatly enriched by dialogues with Indigenous people. If you are not Indigenous yourself, we encourage you to reach out to Indigenous people in your community and, if possible, invite an Indigenous speaker to visit the class (click here for advice about appropriate protocols). While this guide focuses on decolonization and on treaties, Robert Houle: Life & Work by Shirley Madill discusses other critical elements of Indigenous history and experiences in Canada. In particular, Madill’s writing addresses how Houle attended residential school and how in later life he was affected by a book about a boy who faced multigenerational residential-school violence and died of suicide. EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE 1 DECOLONIZATION through the art of ROBERT HOULE WHO IS ROBERT HOULE? Robert Houle was born in St. Boniface, Manitoba, in 1947. Until he started school, Houle lived with his extended family at Sandy Bay First Nation, where he was surrounded by the language and ceremonies of his Plains Ojibwa, or Anishnabe, Saulteaux culture. When Houle entered grade one, he had no choice but to leave home for Catholic residential school in Sandy Bay. Although the school was near his family’s house, he was only allowed to go home for school vacations. He was not allowed to speak Saulteaux, talk to his sisters (who were also at the school), or practice the spiritual traditions that were part of his life at home. After graduating from high school in Winnipeg, Houle enrolled at the University of Manitoba, receiving a BA in art history in 1972. He also took classes at McGill Fig 2. Robert Houle in 2015 with his University, in Montreal, pursuing an education degree with a focus on teaching art. triptych Colours of Love, 2015. While there, Houle began making paintings that were inspired by abstraction and the geometry of traditional Ojibwa designs. In 1977 Houle took a position as a curator at the National Museum of Man in Ottawa (now the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau), becoming the first Indigenous curator of contemporary Indigenous art. However, Houle was troubled by the perception that Indigenous art was better suited to an ethnographic museum than an art gallery and by how the museum treated historical Indigenous artifacts, ignoring their spiritual significance. He resigned in 1980. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Houle lived in Toronto. He continued to make art that combined European modernism, his Saulteaux culture, and Indigenous spiritual practices. He was increasingly interested in abstract colour-field painting and in creating multidimen- sional art installations. He also curated exhibi- tions of works by contemporary Indigenous Fig 3. Robert Houle, Sandy Bay Fig 4. Robert Houle, Muhnedobe uhyahyuk artists. Slowly, Indigenous art was being Residential School Series (The (Where the gods are present), 1989. These shown in art galleries rather than only in Morning), 2009. Houle created a large abstract works were inspired by the series of works that explored the Manitoba landscape. anthropological museums, and Houle was a difficult experiences he endured in critical contributor to important exhibitions as residential schools. he fought to be acknowledged as a mainstream contemporary artist. As Houle witnessed major protests and confron- tations between Indigenous communities and Canadian institutions in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec in the 1980s and 1990s, his art became more overtly political. He began incorporating specific references to colonial history into his work, addressing treaty rights, Fig 5. Robert Houle, Parfleches for Fig 6. Robert Houle, Kanehsatake, 1990–93. This work was inspired by Houle’s response Indigenous representation, and his own experi- the Last Supper (Matthew), 1983. Each parfleche in this work (which to the Oka Crisis, when Mohawks protested ences at the Sandy Bay residential school. In the contains thirteen in total, one of the encroachment of a golf course into twenty-first century, he has continued to make which you see here) is named for an their traditional territory and burial ground apostle, with one for Jesus Christ. in Quebec. art that foregrounds Indigenous experience and It is a bicultural work bringing spirituality and to write about the work of other together two spiritual traditions: Saulteaux and Christianity. Indigenous contemporary artists. EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE 2 DECOLONIZATION through the art of ROBERT HOULE NATIONAL & WORLD EVENTS ROBERT HOULE’S LIFE Treaty No. 1, the first of the 1871 Robert Houle is born in Numbered Treaties, is signed. St. Boniface, Manitoba. 1876 The Indian Act is passed. With this act, the Canadian government consolidates and extends their Houle attends the Oblates of control over many aspects of 1947 Mary Immaculate and Sisters Indigenous life, including land of St. Joseph of St. Hyacinth and education. 1952 residential schools in Sandy Bay, Manitoba. In 1961 Houle begins First Nations people gain 1953– attending Assiniboia Residential the right to vote in provincial Fig 10. Robert Houle 1961 High School in Winnipeg. elections in Manitoba. painting Sandy Bay in 1999. Houle often revisited Houle graduates from the his residential school On June 25, Leonard Marchand, University of Manitoba. experiences in his art. a member of the Okanagan 1968 Indian Band, becomes the Fig 7. Leonard Marchand first Indigenous member of on the occasion of his Parliament since Louis Riel. election to Parliament. 1972 Houle graduates from McGill University in Montreal with an education degree and becomes 1975 an art teacher. Canada and Great Britain sign Fig 11. Robert Houle, Paris/ Houle becomes the curator of the Constitution Act, which Ojibwa, 2009–2010. An 1977 contemporary Indigenous art at installation work that recognizes and affirms existing the National Museum of Man in represents four Ojibwa aboriginal and treaty rights. dancers who travelled from Ottawa. 1980 Canada to Paris in 1845. Houle resigns from his position Fig 8. Prime Minister 1982 and dedicates himself to the equal Pierre Elliott Trudeau and representation of contemporary Queen Elizabeth II sign the Brian Mulroney initiates Constitution Act on Indigenous art in institutions and the Royal Commission on April 17, 1982. in scholarship. Aboriginal Peoples. 1990 The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) Fig 12. Robert Houle, The final report of the Royal hosts the first solo exhibition Everything You Wanted to Commission on Aboriginal Peoples 1991 of Houle’s work at a public art Know about Indians from makes 440 recommendations A to Z (detail), 1985. For gallery, and he accepts a position to change the relationships this work, Houle stencilled as professor at OCAD, becoming between Indigenous peoples, the letters of the alphabet the first person there to teach onto twenty-six rawhide non-Indigenous peoples, and Indigenous studies. parfleches. governmental bodies in Canada. 1992 Houle co-curates Land, Spirit, 1996 Power: First Nations at the The Truth and Reconciliation National Gallery of Canada. Commission formally begins 1999 its work. Houle has a second solo exhibition at the WAG, Sovereignty over 2000 Subjectivity: it addresses land The Truth and Reconciliation claims and cultural appropriation.