University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2014-08-15 Decolonizing the Story of Art in Canada: A Storied Approach to Art for an Intercultural, More-Than-Human World Patenaude, Troy Robert Charles Patenaude, T. R. (2014). Decolonizing the Story of Art in Canada: A Storied Approach to Art for an Intercultural, More-Than-Human World (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/25532 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/1684 doctoral thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Decolonizing the Story of Art in Canada: A Storied Approach to Art for an Intercultural, More-Than-Human World by Troy Patenaude A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF ARTS IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE CALGARY, ALBERTA AUGUST, 2014 © Troy Patenaude 2014 ii Abstract The master narrative dominating the field of Canadian art history has continually privileged Eurocentric, colonialist ways of knowing. Many art historians and critics have called for a new story, but nothing to date has been proposed. This dissertation marks the first attempt at re-envisioning the story of art in Canada. It enacts a broader and deeper context of cross-cultural and social-ecological relationships for our art encounters. I discuss conventional cross-cultural approaches to art in Canada and then develop a new approach that I call the storied approach. This approach acknowledges that our art and how we talk about it is, and occurs first within the context of, a story. The storied approach takes seriously that stories animate our lives. It recognizes the performative power of art, and not just its representational quality. It recognizes the phenomenological root of art and story not as the social world alone, but as our more- than-human world within which we circulate. And it draws on the most salient features of postcolonial criticism, while also acknowledging contributions from our colonial past (and present). In this vein, I interweave story and other voices complementing that of the conventional art historian’s/critic’s while, first, bringing the storied approach to bear on the art and criticism of Lucius O’Brien, Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven, and Paul-Émile Borduas. This is not because I consider these three to be the most important iii artists in Canada, but because these artists have already been privileged as central figures in the current story of Canadian art. Second, I open up the discussion further by attending to the art experiences of various members of an art audience. This allows the stories unfurling through our artworks to breathe in everyday life—the ultimate “story” of art in Canada—from the ground up, here. This larger, living story, we find, is and always has been an indigenously oriented one. European art practices and ideologies have been and are animated by, and nested within, this indigenously oriented story of here, not the other way around. !iv Acknowledgements " I wish to express my deepest gratitude to all the artists and art lovers who inspired me, and agreed to participate with such grace and enthusiasm in this project. I would especially like to acknowledge Heather Shillinglaw, Aaron Paquette, Chris Flodberg, Peter von Tiesenhausen, Alex Janvier, Mark Lawes, Tanya Harnett, and Dawn Marie Marchand. I feel honoured that throughout various stages of this project our working relationship has deepened into a friendship. I look forward to the possibility of sharing in our important work in the future. Many others along the way had to put up with my incessant hounding for weeks before we were finally able to settle on mutually- agreeable times for interviews, paperwork, and meetings. Although I cannot name all of these people here, I am forever indebted to your kindness, generosity, and openness in sharing/co-creating your beautiful art stories with me. I myself have been touched, moved, and inspired by them, and pray that I have done them justice here." " My sincere thanks goes out to my PhD supervisors, Frits Pannekoek and David Mitchell. Your time, help, and encouragement throughout this entire doctoral process, and especially during my editing stages, was indispensable. Thank you for your calmness, guidance, and always managing to make things seem more achievable and doable than I myself sometimes believed them to be. I also thank the rest of my examining committee members for their well-placed questions, thoughtful feedback, and !v words of encouragement: Betty Bastien, Tamara Seiler, Aritha van Herk, and Gerald McMaster." " I am also deeply grateful for the financial support received at various times for this project from the university’s Department of Communication and Culture, the family and friends of Carl O. Nickle, Alberta Natural Gas Co. Ltd., the Province of Alberta Advanced Education Endowment Fund, the Pepsi Bottling Group, and various personal sponsors. I also offer up gratitude to the various research helpers and contacts I had at various galleries, museums, and archives along the way, especially Jessica Stewart with the National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives." " Although much of this project may at first seem to aspire to live without conventional Eurocentric art history all together, this is not the case. I challenge many Canadian art historians throughout this dissertation, but not because I think their work is of no value. Rather, I do this because I ultimately want the core of their projects to succeed. That is, I recognize that embedded within both our stories is a profound love and passion for the arts and their crucial role in our societies. I deeply honour this relationship most and merely hope to enhance it so even more wonders and gifts may begin to be glimpsed through encounters with our art. I acknowledge that the story I begin to tell here is only possible because of your stories. In this vein, I wish to thank some of the important Canadian art historians upon whose shoulders I humbly stand, and whose stories have helped animate and deepen my own in various ways: Dennis Reid, J. Russell Harper, Tom Hill, Gerald McMaster, Marilyn J. McKay, John O’Brian, !vi Peter White, Ruth B. Phillips, Charlotte Townsend-Gault, Leslie Dawn, Terrence Heath, Roald Nasgaard, Virginia Berry, Anna Hudson, Anne Newlands, David Burnett, and Patricia Halkes." " The work and stories of many other scholars and researchers have been indispensable to the summoning up of my own story here as well. I wish especially to thank: Jo-ann Archibald, David Abram, Bill Plotkin, Arthur W. Frank, Alan Paskow, Barbara Bolt, Leanne Simpson, Taiaike Alfred, Betty Bastien, Marie Battiste, James Youngblood Henderson, Jo-Ann Episkenew, Doreen Jensen, and Basil Johnston." " This dissertation was written within curvatures of time and space ever unfurling into the storied landscapes now known as Vancouver Island, the B.C. Rockies, and the western prairies. I am fully aware that while within these animate locales I was walking within very old footsteps, and that nothing I could have thought or written in these places could have ever come from me alone. As such, I thank Mother Earth and the larger story always encompassing me within the particular rhythms of these places. I also humbly thank the Saanich and Cowichan peoples and ancestors, the Ktunaxa peoples and ancestors, and the Nakoda and Siksikaitsitapi and ancestors, for accepting me into the above places, and care-taking them for millennia so that they could help breathe life into our awarenesses here in the myriad ways that they continue to do." " Finally, I want to thank my family—mom, dad, Tyler, and Melaina—my grandparents—Lillian, Leo, Chuck, Irene, Bob, and George—and all of our relatives and ancestors, from the bottom of my heart. In walking your paths with so much strength, !vii love, hardship, and authenticity, you carry me in mine. I am forever grateful for the endless support, patience, and guidance you show and have shown me. I hope this work is truthful, kind, and good for our family. May I continue to walk in this more-than- human world as you have taught me: gently, with my heart in my feet. And Sarah, you were exactly the inspiration I needed to get this project finally finished. For this and so much more I am forever indebted to you. Thank you for stepping into this beautiful story with me after so long. I deeply cherish any time I get to walk, or dance in it with you." " Marsee pour la diresyoon itayha chimiyouitayhtamak, li shmaen chee oushtawyawk pour lee vyeu chee awpachihayakook, li zhen chee kishnamawachik pour li tawn ki vyaen. viii To ALL OUR ARTISTS here on Mother Earth !ix Table of Contents " "Abstract…………………………………………………………………………….…………….. ii" "Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………..iv " "Dedication………………………………………………………………………………………viii " "Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………….ix" "List of Illustrations………………………………………………………………………………xi" "P ROLOGUE………………………………………….……………………….………..…………..1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION………..……………………………..………………………….9 " The Discipline of Canadian Art History……………………………………….……..12"