Success Stories

First Nations Art

Internet resource of contemporary First Nations Art

When Dr. Joan Acland of Concordia University’s Department of Art History began teaching contemporary First Nations art, she came up against a formidable barrier, there was very little research material on Canada’s First Nations artists or their work.

Dr. Acland set about filling the void by doing her own research, with a view to publishing a bibliographical book on contemporary Native artists. After ten years of intensive research, she decided to share her findings with the academic community and the general public through the Internet. Dr. Acland turned to the Canada’s Digital Collections (CDC) program for assistance.

The CDC program, which gives young Canadians valuable work experience converting Canadian material for display on the Internet, was a natural choice for Dr. Acland. “I wanted to make sure that young people with an interest and commitment to First Nations art and issues would play an integral part in building knowledge in the field,” she says.

After successfully completing a competitive application process, Dr. Acland received CDC funding to produce a First Nations art Web site that would offer a digitized summary of her decade-long research into the lives and works of contemporary First Nations visual artists.

Dr. Acland assembled a team of eight Native and non-Native students from Concordia’s Fine Arts program to begin working on the Web site project. “I told the students my goal was to create an academically strong research site that would serve as a foundation for more research on First Nations artists in the future,” says Dr. Acland. “I gave them a free hand in developing the site,” she continues. “My only stipulation was that the Web site had to be clear, accessible and useful.”

The students worked together for three months to produce First Nations Art: An Introduction to Contemporary Native Artists in Canada. The Web site introduces educators, scholars and the general public to Canadian artists not widely known within academia. It begins with an introductory essay on contemporary Native artists by Dr. Acland and continues with biographical, bibliographical and exhibition history information on 100 contemporary First Nations visual artists. Images of the artists’ work in photography, installation, painting, sculpture, textile and printmaking are featured.

Dr. Acland says the Web site has been warmly received by the academic community. “I think the site is well on its way to becoming a key site of research on First Nations art in Canada,” she says proudly. “I have to give the student team a lot of credit for this success. They worked beautifully together throughout the project.”

For team leader Karen De Lutis, who is combining a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Master’s degree in Art History, the project was an ideal work experience. “I was really pleased to be able to combine my passion for art history with my interest in information technology,” she says.

Since the project’s completion, De Lutis continues to interweave art and technology while completing her Master’s thesis. She works part-time at a private art gallery and at a software company, developing management software. “I’m finding the time management skills I learned as team leader have really come in handy in my work environment,” she says.

For fellow project participant Nadia Myre, the CDC initiative was a welcome introduction to Web site design. “I really enjoyed the technical challenge of configuring the site,” says Myre, who was also responsible for contacting the featured artists and scanning material for digitization. “This is an important site for everyone interested in First Nations art,” she says. “I was glad to make a contribution.”

A recent graduate of Concordia’s Master of Fine Arts program, Myre says her CDC project experience helped her land her first career job as a sculptor professor at White Mountain Academy, a fine arts college in Elliot Lake, Ontario. In her studio-based workshop, Myre says she teaches the work of many of the artists featured on the Web site she helped create. “I’ve had a lot of positive feedback from these artists,” she says. “They’re excited about it and have given us a lot of thanks for doing it.” Myre adds that she is using her computer experience to teach a Computer for Artists course at the academy.

Visit the Canada's Digital Collections World Wide Web Site at http://collections.ic.gc.ca