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Alex Janvier
RCA, CM |
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Alex Janvier
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RCA, CM
Born of Dene Suline and Saulteaux descent, Alex Janvier was raised in the nurturing care of his family until the age of eight. At this age, the young Janvier was uprooted from his home and sent to the Blue Quills Indian Residential School near St. Paul,
Alberta. Although Janvier speaks of having a creative instinct from as far back as he can remember, it was at the residential school that he was given the tools to create his first paintings. Unlike many aboriginal artists of his time, Janvier received
formal art training from the Alberta College of Art in Calgary and graduated with honours in 1960. Immediately after graduation, Janvier took up an opportunity to instruct art at the University of Alberta.
While Alex recognizes the artists
Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee as influences, his style is unique. Many of his masterpieces involve an eloquent blend of both abstract and representational images with bright, often symbolic colours. As a First Nations person emerging from a history
of oppression and many struggles for cultural empowerment, Janvier paints both the challenges and celebrations that he has encountered in his lifetime. Alex proudly credits the beadwork and birch bark basketry of his mother and other relatives as
influencing his art.
As a member of the commonly referred to “Indian Group of Seven”, Janvier is one of the significant pioneering aboriginal artists in Canada, and as such has influenced many generations of aboriginal artists. By virtue of his
art, Janvier was selected to represent Canada in a Canadian/Chinese Cultural Exchange in 1985. Although he has completed several murals nationally, Janvier speaks of the 450 meter squared masterpiece entitled “Morning Star” at the Canadian Museum of
Civilization, as a major highlight in his career. In January 2004, one of Janvier’s works was displayed in Paris, France at the Canadian Forum on Cultural Enterprise. In recognition of his success, Alex Janvier recently received three prestigious
Lifetime Achievement Awards from the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, The Tribal Chiefs Institute, and Cold Lake First Nations. Janvier’s passion and natural talents for creative expression remains strong to this day.
ARTIST
STATEMENT
“My Art is truly North American . . . it has its indigenous roots. I enjoy what I do, I really do. Some of my artwork is healing for myself and for anyone who wants to accept it that way. Through my art, people don’t have to remain
‘stuck’. . . I’d like to paint until the day I can’t paint anymore.”
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Alex Janvier
RCA, CM
Affiliations
Royal Canadian Academy
Awards
2008 Governor General's Award - Visual and Media Arts
2007 Order of Canada, Member
2005 Province of Alberta Centennial Medal for Outstanding Service to the people
2002 National Aboriginal Lifetime Achievement Award
2001 Tribal Chiefs Institute Lifetime Achievement Award
2001 Cold Lake First Nations Lifetime Achievement Award
1992 Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, member
1985 Canada/China Cross Cultural Exchange Tour
Collections
Canada Council Art Bank
Alberta Art Foundation
Toronto Dominion Bank
Gulf Oil Resources
Museum of Man
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Shell Canada
Esso Oil Resources
McMichael Canadian Collection
Alberta Indian Arts and Crafts Society
AMACO Canada Ltd
The Late Helen E Band Collection
The Saidye and Samuel Bronfman Memorial Collection
The Canada Council Art Bank
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Cinader Collection
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade
Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
City of Edmonton
Edmonton Art Gallery
Edmonton Public School Board
Glenbow Museum
Government of Alberta
Government of Alberta
Mendel Art Gallery
National Gallery of Canada
The Late Lester B Pearson Collection
Petro-Canada
Thunder Bay Art Gallery
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Commissions
2007 Casino Dene in Cold Lake First Nation, AB
2006 Explorer Hotel, Mural Restoration Project, Yellowknife, NT
1998 "White Buffalo", $200 coin, Royal Canadian Mint, Ottawa, ON
1993 Morning Star at the Canadian Museum of Civilization Hull PQ
1986 Legoff School, Cold Lake, AB
1984 Bonnyville Health Centre, Bonnyville, AB
1982 Town Hall, Cold Lake, AB
1978 - 81 National Museum of Man, Ottawa, ON
1978 "The Seasons", National Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, ON
1976 Stoney Rapids Motel, Stoney Rapids, SK
1976 Muttart Conservatory, Edmonton, AB
1975 County of Strathcona Building, Sherwood Park, AB
1974 Onion Lake Elementary School, Onion Lake, AB
1973 Sawridge Motor Hotel, Slave Lake, AB
1973 Explorer Hotel, Yellowknife, NT
1972 Sherwood Medical Clinic, Sherwood Park, AB
1971 Erminskin Kindergarten, Hobbema, AB
1967 Indian Pavillion, Expo '67, Montreal, QC
Education
1960 Alberta College of Art, Calgary, AB
Exhibitions
2008 Honouring Tradition : Reframing Native Art, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB
2007 Alberta Biennial Exhibition, Art Gallery of Calgary, Calgary, AB
2006 Janvier Gallery, Cold Lake, AB
2006 Alberta Foundation for the Arts, traveling exhibit
2005 Bearclaw Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2004 Janvier Gallery, Cold Lake, AB
2004 Bearclaw Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2004 The Canadian Forum on Cultural Enterprise, Paris, France
2003 Janvier Gallery, Cold Lake, AB
2002 Edmonton Public Art Gallery, Edmonton, AB
2001 Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, NS
2000 Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, AB
1996 Canada House Gallery, Banff, AB
1996 Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, ON
1996 Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
1995 Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB
1990 Wallace Gallery, Calgary, AB
1982 Gallery Moos, Toronto, ON
1980 West End Gallery, Edmonton, AB
1979 Hampton Galleries, Pontiac, MI
1978 Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, ON
1977 Gallery Moos, Toronto, ON
1977 Gallery Stenhusgarde, Linkoping, Switzerland
1975 Alberta Art Foundation, traveling to London, Brussels, Paris, New York and Montreal
1973 Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, AB
1966 Department of Indian Affairs, Ottawa, ON
Assiniboia Gallery, Regina, SK
Dominion Gallery, Montreal, QC
Gallery 1450, Victoria, BC
Johnson Gallery, Edmonton, AB
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, SK
National Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON
Pollock Gallery, Toronto, ON
Provincial Museum, Edmonton, AB
Robertson Galleries, Ottawa, ON
Triangle Gallery, Calgary, AB
Publications
2008 CBC Art Spots
2008 CTV News
2008 CBC News
2006 CBC Artspots, Alex Janvier, RCA
2005 GalleriesWest art review
2004 The Sharing Circle, segment featuring Alex Janvier, airing February 21, 2004
2003 CBC News
>CBC News
2002 Voices: Life and Work of the Woodland Artist, First Voice Multimedia Inc
1997 Cardinal - Schubert, Joane. “In the red.” In Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation, eds. Bruce Ziff. Pratima V. Rao, 122 - 133
1994 Collins, Curtis J. “Janvier and Morrisseau: Transcending a Canadian Discourse.” M.A. Thesis, Concordia University
1994 “Alex Janvier: Negotiating the land.” Canadian Art 11, no.4, Winter 1994: 79-80
1993 The Art of Alex Janvier: His First Thirty Years, 1960-1990
1993 “Morning Star.” Globe and Mail Metro Edition, October 15, 1993, p. C8
1993 Canadian Museum of Civilization, ed. “In the Shadow of the Sun: Perspectives on Contemporary Native Art.” The Museum, Hull, QC
1992 Nemiroff, Diana, Robert Houle, and Charlotte Townsend-Gault. Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada
1991 Echo Des Songes, Arthur Lamonthe, Montreal, QC
1991 Investment in Art, Alberta Art Foundation, Edmonton, AB
1985 Warner, John Anson American Indian Art Magazine 10p 46-53, 77
1984 Seeing It Our Way: Alex Janvier, CBC
1983 Our Native Land: Alex Janvier, CBC/CBO
1982 Art West 7, no. 9, Oct issue
1978 Contemporary Native Art in Canada: Alex Janvier, Royal Ontario Museum
1978 Artscanada, Feb/March
1977 Heritage Alberta, Sept/Oct
1976 Artwest, March/April
1974 Hill, Tom, Art Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 18
1973 Canadian Indian Canvas Colours of Pride, National Film Board of Canada
1973 Canadian Indian Canvas, Henning Jacobsen Productions, Toronto, ON
1973 Alex Janvier: The Native Artist, Alberta Native Communications Society
1972 Fry, Jacqueline, Art Canada, Vol. XXIX, No. 3, p 72-77
1969 Alberta New, January, "Museum Plans"
1966 Western Week, January "Advice sought from Alberta Indians on Expo"
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All images copyrighted by the artists.
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