ARTISTS AND ALLIES

As the Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. sought recognition and inclusion by mainstream institutions through the late 1970s and 1980s, it was critical for the artists to work hand in hand with receptive non-Indigenous curators and other individuals who were in positions to assist this aim. Jacqueline Fry, Elizabeth McLuhan, Audrey Hawthorn, Carol Phillips, and Carol Podedworny were among these early allies. Fortunately, there were also some individuals — private collectors, commercial dealers, and other artists — acting in tandem with the group, or on its behalf, who offered support to Indigenous artists in various capacities, including Herbert T. Schwarz, Robert Fox, John Kurtz, Helen E. Band, Bernhard Cinader, Phillip Gevik, Len Anthony, and Bill Lobchuk of Winnipeg’s Grand Western Canadian Screen Shop. Beginning to fight their way into the bastions of the Canadian contemporary art world, early Indigenous curatorial leaders included Tom Hill, Robert Houle, Gerald McMaster, Doreen Jensen, Lee-Ann Martin, Joane Cardinal-Schubert, Bob Boyer, Viviane Gray, and Gloria Cranmer; but they were often met with resistance and faced many challenges. Ultimately, the careers of Indigenous artists were primarily in the hands of non-Indigenous people who did not necessarily have their best interests at heart. In the end, it was incumbent upon artists to show that they were serious professional artists and that they ought to be treated with the same respect given to other contemporary artists.