Saulteaux artist Robert Houle (b.1947) has claimed space and authority for Indigenous representation in contemporary art for more than fifty years. This new publication celebrates his generational influence and coincides with his exhibition Red Is Beautiful, organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario and touring to the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution. A curator, writer, and educator as well as an artist, Houle has made a profound impact. Growing up on the Sandy Bay First Nation/Kaa-wii-kwe-tawang-kak in Manitoba, he was placed in residential school and denied access to his family and traditions. Always fiercely principled, he has dedicated his career to challenging colonialist perspectives. In 1980, he resigned from his position as the first curator of contemporary Indigenous art at the National Museum of Man (now the Canadian Museum of History) and set off on a path toward creating a remarkable body of work that spans painting, drawing, and large-scale installation. Robert Houle: Life & Work reveals how Houle's artistic output has opened critical discussion on political and cultural issues surrounding First Nations peoples, including Indigenous identity, the impact of colonialism, and land claims and residential schools. Houle has played a pivotal role in bringing contemporary Indigenous artists into the Canadian art mainstream through his writing and curating of important exhibitions, such as Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada in 1992. This book also explores the artist's public art projects, critical elements of his legacy for art in Canada.

Houle's painting blends Western abstraction, postmodernism and conceptualism with First Nations art history and techniques, challenging expectations about Indigenous aesthetics An extensive survey spanning more than 50 years, Robert Houle: Red Is Beautiful celebrates Houle's ongoing career as an internationally recognized Indigenous artist, curator and writer, calling attention to First Nations and settler-colonialist histories through the critical lens of his impressive oeuvre. Painful personal experiences from the time he spent in residential school as a youth are brought into sharp relief through painting. Houle's visual commentary tackles global topics including commercial appropriation, Indigenous resistance movements, land rights, religion and war, among others. A leader in challenging systemic racial biases, Houle has played a significant role at successfully introducing Indigenous art and its relationship to the contemporary art world in Canada and beyond. Rare excerpts from the artist's archive are featured alongside major scholarly texts, poetic writings and personal anecdotes from fellow prominent Indigenous thinkers and creators, offering new insights about an artist ahead of his time. Robert Houle (born 1947) teaches at the OCADU and has collaborated on projects that seek to establish awareness of First Nations contemporary art, such as the Land, Spirit, Power exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada in 1992. He is represented by Kinsman Robinson Galleries in Toronto.

Exhibition catalogue for 'Land, Spirit, Power' at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, in 1992, a collection of contemporary art intended as a response and contribution to current discussions on questions of cultural identity, from the specific perspective of First Nations. Includes three essays, and data on each artist.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER A missing person, a grieving family, a curious clue: a half-finished manuscript set in Paris Once a week, I chase men who are not my husband. . . . When eccentric novelist Robert Eady abruptly vanishes, he leaves behind his wife, Leah, their daughters, and, hidden in an unexpected spot, plane tickets to Paris. Hoping to uncover clues--and her husband--Leah sets off for France with her girls. Upon their arrival, she discovers an unfinished manuscript, one Robert had been writing without her knowledge . . . and that he had set in Paris. The Eady girls follow the path of the manuscript to a small, floundering English-language bookstore whose weary proprietor is eager to sell. Leah finds herself accepting the offer on the spot. As the family settles into their new Parisian life, they trace the literary paths of some beloved Parisian classics, including Madeline and The Red Balloon, hoping more clues arise. But a series of startling discoveries forces Leah to consider that she may not be ready for what solving this mystery might do to her family--and the Paris she thought she knew. Charming, haunting, and triumphant, Paris by the Book follows one woman's journey as she writes her own story, exploring the power of family and the magic that hides within the pages of a book.

This book tells the story of one of the largest and most influential African churches in South Africa.

The Trickster Shift not only presents some of the most stunningly original examples of contemporary Native art but also allows the artists to offer their own insights into the creative process and the nature of Native humour.