Artist Cardinal-Schubert leaves lasting legacy

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Painter fought for native work
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"Lacrosse-X", © Joane Cardinal-Schubert, RCA (1942-2009)
/Click on image to Enlarge/
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By Nancy Tousley, Calgary Herald, September 19, 2009

Joane Cardinal-Schubert, who died Thursday, was a strong and passionate voice for the equality of native artists and native people, who practised what she advocated in artworks that could be searing in their condemnation of wrongs and lyrical in their invocations of native culture.

Cardinal-Schubert died Thursday at Foothills Hospital of cancer, her husband Mike Schubert said Friday. She was 67 years old.

Her death came as a shock to many people who were unaware the cancer she had battled for 14 years had returned three months ago.

A painter, installation artist, writer, curator, poet, lecturer and director of video and native theatre, Cardinal-Schubert was born in 1942 in Red Deer and studied art at the Alberta College of Art, the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary, where she received a bachelor of fine arts degree in 1977.

As an advocate for contemporary native artists at a time when they were hardly collected and shown or, when they were shown, found themselves pigeonholed in exhibitions of "native art," she was outspoken and fearless of the consequences for her own career.

"She had great spirit," said her brother, the well-known architect Douglas Cardinal. "I remember her as a child always interested in art and I always encouraged her. As the older brother, I have always done my best to support her and appreciate her ability and talent, and also her struggle to be able to say it as it is and to be outspoken. She was a pretty brave girl sometimes.

"I think she made a great contribution to art and to aboriginal people and to all our lives with her continuing quest to be heard. I think she is recognized nationally and internationally for her work.

"I was very proud of her to have that strength and that determination to have her voice heard. I think she created quite a legacy for us all, particularly for our family, and an inspiration for our family. I was always proud of her achievements."

Her last public exhibition in Calgary was an installation work at her dealer of 32 years, Masters Gallery, put on last July to coincide with the Calgary meeting of the Royal Canadian Academy, of which she was a member.

"Joane was a fiery, indomitable, free spirit," said Jeffrey Spalding, president of the RCA. "She is renowned as a groundbreaking artist who fought tenaciously for recognition of the qualities of First Nations artists and inclusion of their issues and works in museums of art rather than anthropology.

"Joane carried the burden of her fight with disease with great dignity and privacy. Yet, she recently gamely came out to show support of younger artists through her active participation as juror at the June exhibition for the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts at Stride Gallery; her bravery and tenacity was well-noted."

Spalding said, "Her works are a wonderful admixture of societal critique and probing autobiographical inquiry. Personally, I will fondly remember the touching night sky pictures with tales of the ancestors written by the stars."

Cardinal-Schubert and her close friend, artist Jane Ash Poitras, who lives and works in Edmonton, followed the first generation of contemporary native artists, who included Alberta painter Alex Janvier and artists Norval Morrisseau and Daphne Odjig.

"Joane and Jane Ash Poitras could speak to the academics," said Janvier, who also valued Cardinal-Schubert's honesty and determination. "Her voice cannot be dismissed. I also think she brought class to native painting. Her articulation of the issues was necessary. She was important in crossing that academic bridge. Most of us did not have the high-quality education that she had.

"Morrisseau took down that art Berlin Wall (by showing at the National Gallery of Canada), but there had to be follow up. She was right there in the heat of it, ahead of her time." But because she was an Indian and a woman, Janvier said, she had to work doubly hard to accomplish what she did.

Cardinal-Schubert was also an important role model for two generations of younger artists. "She was my best friend for 35 years," said Jane Ash Poitras. "She was a superstar. We hooked up in the early '80s and we talked about everything. I don't think I'd be who I am without her. She was a role model. . . . She smartened the art world up."

A celebration of Joane Cardinal-Schubert's life will be held at Masters Gallery on Oct. 3 from 11 a. m. to 4 p. m.

Cardinal-Schubert is survived by her husband Mike and sons Christopher and Justin.
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* The acrylic painting on canvas in this post: "Locrosse-X", © Joane Cardinal-Schubert, RCA (1942-2009) /Image taken from the artist's 'facebook' profile/