b. 1953 Red Pheasant, Saskatchewan
First Nations Affiliation: Plains Cree

One of the most significant figures in contemporary Native art in Canada, Gerald McMaster is an artist, writer, and since 1981, Curator of Contemporary Indian Art at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis, McMaster began his education at the Institute of American Indian Arts, completing a B.F.A. at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (1977), and an M.A. in anthropology at Carleton University (1994). From 1977-81, he headed the Indian Art programme at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, and is now an adjunct research professor at Carleton. In addition to extensive contributions as a juror and board member, McMaster has completed commissions including children's book illustrations, record jackets, public murals, and in 1991 was the sole Canadian selected to work with the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian for the exhibition All Roads are Good.

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

Canada Council Art Bank, Ottawa, Ontario
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Québec
Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario
City of Ottawa, Ontario
City of Regina, Saskatchewan
Gettysburg College Art Gallery, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Guilford Native American Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Institute of American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario
Museum fur Volkerkunde, Vienna, Austria
Nickle Arts Museum, Calgary, Alberta
Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan
Osler Hoskins and Harcourt, Toronto, Ontario
Peking Chinese Opera, Peking, China
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario
Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario
University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan

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

"Artist uses humor, irony as tools." Windspeaker 10, no. 13 (28 September 1992): 13.

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

"Exhibition explores spectacles of place: Appropriately enough, Santa Fe, a place as much imagined as real, is the site of an exhibit of works on our collective ideas about belonging (Longing and Belonging)." Globe & Mail-Metro Edition, 4 October 1995, p. C1, C2.

Ferguson, Bruce W. "Longing And Belonging: From The Faraway Nearby." El palacio 100, no. 3 (Summer 1995): 32.

Fleming, Kathleen. "Longing and Belonging: From the Faraway Nearby. Site Santa Fe Biennial." Parachute 82, (April/May/June 1996): 55-57.

Gillmor, Alison. Review of INDIGENA: Contemporary Native Perspectives by Gerald R McMaster and Lee-Ann Martin. Border Crossings 11, no. 4 (1992): 73-74.

Greer, Sandy. Review of INDIGENA: Contemporary Native Perspectives by Gerald  McMaster and Lee-Ann Martin. Quill & Quire 58, no. 6 (June 1992): 32.

Laurence, Robin, "Savage Graces" Canadian Art 9, no. 4 (Winter 1992): 64-65. [Review: UBC Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, British Columbia]

Longman, Mary. Mary Longman: Traces. With essay by Gerald McMaster and foreword by Jann L.M. Bailey. Kamloops, British Columbia: Kamloops Art Gallery, 1996.

McMaster, Gerald. "Creating space." Thinking About Exhibitions, eds. Reesa Greenberg, Bruce W. Ferguson, and Sandy Nairne, 191-200. London; New York: Routledge, 1995.

McMaster, Gerald. "INDIGENA: A Native curator’s perspective." Art Journal 51, no. 3 (Fall 1992): 66.

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.

"McMaster challenges First Nations stereotypes." Windspeaker 12, no. 8 (4-17 July 1994): 13.

Mitchell, Marybelle. Review of INDIGENA: Contemporary Native Perspectives by Gerald  McMaster & Lee-Ann Martin. Arctic Circle 3, no. 1 (1992): 32-33.

"Native artist works on cowboys-and-Indians theme." The (Montréal) Gazette, 23 March 1991, p. J4.

Review of INDIGENA: Contemporary Native Perspectives by Gerald McMaster and Lee-Ann Martin. Canadian Ethnic Studies 26, no. 1 (1994): 161-162.

Review: McMichael Canadian Art Collection. The Toronto Star, 8 February 1991, p. D14.

Ryan, Allan J. The Cowboy/Indian Show: Recent Work by Gerald McMaster. With statement and commentary by the artist. Kleinburg, Ontario: McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1991.

"Savage Graces." Windspeaker 13, no. 4 (August 1995): 12. [Review: Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta]

"Tenuous lines of descent: Indian arts and crafts of the reservation period." The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 9, no. 2 (1989): 205-236.

Townsend-Gault, Charlotte. "Savage Graces." Border Crossings 11, no. 4 (1992): 76-77. [Review: UBC Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, British Columbia]

Valpy, Michael. "Peeping across ignorance barriers (Profile of Gerald McMaster)." Globe & Mail Metro Edition, 26 March 1991, p. A-13.

Young Man, A1fred. "Token and taboo: Academia vs. Native art." FUSE Magazine 11, no. 6 (July 1988): 46-48.