Feature artist for December 2024: Dale Auger

(ANNews) – A beautiful image titled “Mother Earth’s Blessing” by the incomparable Dale Auger is on the cover of the December 2024 edition of Alberta Native News. One of Canada’s most evocative modern painters, Cree artist Dale Auger was a gifted interpreter of First Nations culture, who used the cross-cultural medium of art to portray scenes from the everyday to the sacred and dissemble stereotypes about Indigenous peoples.

A second edition of his book titled Medicine Paint: The art of Dale Auger  was published recently. It is a collection of Auger’s best work, reproduced in glorious full colour and reflecting the evolution of the artist’s distinctive style. Including a revealing look back at his life and professional development, the book is a stunning tribute to the master Indigenous artist.

Auger uses bold, bright colours in his oil paintings to explore the intricate links between spirituality and the natural laws of the land. Birds, beasts and human forms are carried from the dreamworld onto canvas, their spirits channeled through his paintbrush and presented in brilliant yellows, mystic blues, vibrant reds and swirls of black. Infusing his subjects with energy, life and colour, Dale Auger masterfully presents scenes that are powerful, spiritual and inspiring. A bald eagle is majestic in flight against a bright blue sky. An elder makes a solemn offering to the Sky Being. Horses dance playfully in the frame for a sweat lodge. A warrior draws his bow and points it skyward.

Dale Auger was a painter from the Bigstone Cree Nation in northern Alberta. Medicine Paint: The art of Dale Auger, published by Heritage House Press, is an epic collection of his art, featuring more than 150 of his most powerful and inspiring oil paintings.

The book includes a fascinating foreword written by Mary-Beth Laviolette that chronicles Auger’s artistic journey and offers insights into his perspectives on life. His art is beautifully presented in three phases ending with his death in 2008.

This book is dedicated to the life, artistic vision, natural spirit and lasting memory of husband, father, grandfather, artist, educator, mentor and author Dale Auger, Ph.D. (1958–2008). The artist penned the preface to the book. In it he states, “I would like to think of myself as a mentor to the artists who are following or walking alongside me on this journey. The truth is that we are all part of a greater community that needs to work together to achieve our goals.”

Medicine Paint (sku: 9781772034967) is available wherever books are sold. For more information visit heritagehouse.ca.