b. 1953, Regina, Saskatchewan
First Nations Affiliation: Métis

Caught in the crossfire (as he puts it) of the politics of white colonization, Edward Poitras has responded with a subtle and complex body of work which has most notably made him the first Aboriginal artist to represent Canada at the prestigious 1995 Venice Biennale. In 1974, Poitras trained briefly at Saskatoon's Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College under Sarain Stump, who stressed an intuitive artistic process rooted in reflection on Indigenous histories. Poitras then spent two years under Domingo Cisneros at Manitou college in La Macaza, Québec (1975-76) before returning west. Notwithstanding his affinity for Marcel Duchamp, Poitras's work reflects both these early influences in its combination of natural and man-made materials into ambiguous and complex installations exploring tensions in First Nations identity, representation, and spaces within a dominant mainstream culture. In 1978, Poitras was a lecturer at the University of Winnipeg, and through much of the 1980s, at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College.

R E C E N T   E X H I B I T I O N S

S E L E C T E D   C O L L E C T I O N S

Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Regina, Saskatchewan
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Québec
City of Regina, Saskatchewan
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery Regina, Saskatchewan
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan Arts Board, Regina, Saskatchewan
SaskTel Corporation, Regina, Saskatchewan
Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario

S E L E C T E D   B I B L I O G R A P H Y

Canadian Museum of Civilization, ed. In the Shadow of the Sun: Perspectives on Contemporary Native Art. Hull, Québec: The Museum, 1993.

Bell, Michael. "Reclaiming history: Robert Houle, Carl Beam and Edward Poitras." Currents 7, no. 4 (1991): 2.

Borsa, Joan. Another Prairies. Toronto: Art Gallery at Harbourfront, 1986. [Exhibition held 12 September - 26 October 1986; also exhibited in Saskatchewan in 1987]

Bourgeois, Gail. "The story began long ago." Harbour Magazine of Art and Everyday Life 1, no. 3 (August-October 1991): 56-58.

Cardinal-Schubert, Joane. "In the red." In Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation, eds. Bruce Ziff and Pratima V. Rao, 122-133. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 1997.

Cardinal-Schubert, Joane. Mark Makers: An Exhibition of Work By Artists Who have Lived and Worked in Saskatchewan. Regina, Saskatchewan: Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery, 1997.

Collins, Curtis J. Contemporary Rituals. North Bay, Ontario: White Water Gallery, 1990.

Collins, Curtis J. "Interview with Edward Poitras: Blade horse offerings." ArtsCraft 2, no. 4 (Winter 1991): 24-28.

Cronin, Ray. "Captain Vancouver by Charles Comfort: Four Native perspectives." ARTSatlantic 15, no. 3 (Fall/Winter 1997): 20-21. [Review: Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Charlottetown]

Duncan, Ann. "Métis artist’s coyotes are hit of Venice Biennale." The (Montréal) Gazette, 17 June 1995, p. H-1.

Duncan, Ann. "Aboriginal artists open new territory." The (Montréal) Gazette, 12 August 1992, p. 15.

Durham, Jimmie. Marginal Recession: An Installation By Edward Poitras. Regina, Saskatchewan: Dunlop Art Gallery, 1994.

Elton, Heather. "Lynx from the past: Chekhov goes Native." Border Crossings 17, no. 1 (February 1998): 63, 66-67.

Enright, Robert. "The incomparable rightness of in between: A conversation with Edward Poitras." Border Crossings 14, no. 4 (1995): 24-33.

Fabo, Andy. "Rethinking history: Beyond the valley of the other (Mercer Union, Toronto)." C Magazine 34 (Summer 1992): 36-43

Fry, Jacqueline. "Stardusters." Parachute, no. 148 (September/October/November 1987): 53-54.

Gravel, Claire. "La vision de l’elan noir." Le Devoir, 1 September 1990, p. C5.

Grenville, Bruce. Toward A History of the Found Object. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Mendel Art Gallery, 1990.

"Jaw Rez." The (Montréal) Gazette, 6 July 1996, p. I-6. [Review: Canadian Museum of Civilization]

Kanbara, Bryce and Alfred Young Man. Visions of Power: Contemporary Art by First Nations, Inuit and Japanese Canadians. Toronto, Ontario: Earth Spirit Festival, 1991.

Lippard, Lucy. Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural America. New York, New York: Pantheon Books, 1990.

McMaster, Gerald. Sharing the Circle: Contemporary Work by First Nations Artists. Regina, Saskatchewan: Saskatchewan Arts Board, 1992.

McMaster, Gerald. "Beaded Radicals and Born-Again Pagans: Situating Native Artists within the Field of Art." M.A. thesis, Carleton University, 1994.

McMaster, Gerald. Edward Poitras: Canada XLVI Biennal di Venezia. Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1995.

McMaster, Gerald, and Lee-Ann Martin, eds. INDIGENA: Contemporary Native Perspectives. Vancouver, British Columbia: Douglas & McIntyre, 1992./ INDIGENA:. Perspectives autochtones contemporaines. Hull, Québec: Musée canadien des civilisations, 1992.

Mainprize, Garry. Stardusters: New Works by Jane Ash Poitras, Pierre Sioui, Joane Cardinal-Schubert and Edward Poitras. Thunder Bay, Ontario: Thunder Bay Art Gallery, 1987.

"Métis artist picked for Venice Biennale." The (Montréal) Gazette, 29 October 1994, p. I-5.

Nemiroff, Diana. Canadian Biennial of Contemporary Art. Ottawa, Ontario: National Gallery of Canada, 1989.

Oxenham, Judy. "The trickster: Edward Poitras in Venice." Visual Media 9, no.4 (March/April 1997): 37.

Pakasaar, Helga, Deborah Doxtater, Jean Fisher, and Rick Hill. Revisions. Banff, Alberta: Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre, 1992.

Podedworney, Carol. Rethinking History. Toronto, Ontario: Mercer Union, A Centre for Contemporary Visual Art, 1992.

"Poitras forges identity at Venice: in a complex installation that uses the coyote as a symbol, this Regina artist of Native ancestry makes brilliant use of awkward space in Canada's pavilion (Venice Biennale)." Globe & Mail Metro Edition, 24 June 1995, p. C17.

Richmond, Cindy. "Edward Poitras at the XLVI Biennale di Venezia." C Magazine 46 (Summer 1995): 16-19.

Richmond, Cindy. "Poitras forges identity at Biennale." The Toronto Globe and Mail, 24 June 1995, p. C17.

Teitelbaum, Matthew. Edward Poitras: Indian Territory. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: Mendel Art Gallery, 1989.

Teitelbaum, Matthew. "Sighting the single tree, sighting the new found land." In Eye of Nature, ed. Dana Augaitas, 71-88. Banff, Alberta: Water Phillips Gallery, Banff Centre for the Arts, 1991.

Tétrault, Pierre-Léon, Dana Alan Williams, Guy Sioui Durand, Alfred Young Man, et al. New Territories: 350/500 Years After: An Exhibition of Contemporary Aboriginal Art of Canada. Prefaces by Robert Houle, Tom Hill. Montréal, Québec: Ateliers Vision planétaire, 1992.

Tousley, Nancy. "The trickster: In his new installation for the Venice Biennale, Métis artist Edward Poitras turns the table on history." Canadian Art 12, no. 2 (Summer 1995): 36-45.

Townsend-Gault, Charlotte. "Ritualizing ritual’s rituals (ritual as a vehicle for personal and social negotiation in contemporary Native American Art)." Art Journal 51 (Fall 1992): 51-58.

Young Man, Alfred. "Towards a political history of Native art." In Visions of Power. Toronto, Ontario: The Earth Spirit Festival, 1991.

Zepp, Norman, and Michael Parke-Taylor. Horses Fly Too: Bob Boyer / Edward Poitras. Regina, Saskatchewan: Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery, 1984.