Joane Cardinal-Schubert

Joane Cardinal-Schubert LL. D (Kainai, 1942–2009) was a First Nations artist from Alberta, Canada. She was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. She was an activist for Native sovereignty.

Early life Cardinal-Schubert was born in 1942 in the town of Red Deer, Alberta. She attended the Alberta College of Art + Design (now Alberta University of the Arts) in 1962 where she studied painting, printmaking, and multimedia. Cardinal-Schubert's Indigenous culture was omitted from the education system, the media, history books, and arts. She focussed her work primarily on her family history and Kainaiwa ancestry.

Education In 1973 she began a B.A. at the University of Alberta before transferring to the University of Calgary to graduate with a B.F.A. in 1977. In 1978 Cardinal-Schubert worked as an assistant curator at the University of Calgary Art Gallery, and the Nickle Arts Museum (also in Calgary), from 1979 to 1985. Visually her work depicts valiant Indigenous motifs while communicating about subjects that affect and impact her. while at other times producing work which is also informed by trends in Western avant-garde and contemporary art. When asked about her experience as an Indigenous artist she writes:

"I had a difficult time realizing I was categorized by my personal expressions. The categorization of Native Art was attached to my work and others' works by non-Native curators. Even though I had written the same exams in University and fulfilled all the requirements of a degree...when I got out of school my content which was largely about myself, who I was, my responses to the world etc. was labelled as Native Art and then political art - they seemed to go together. Later when Native Curators came on the scene, and called the work Native art - that was different. We were declaring who we were, not being told by others". In 2005 she was given the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal. In 2007 the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, now Indspire, gave her their Art Award. "

Heritage Cardinal-Schubert was a member of the Kainai Nation. Also called the Káínawa, or Blood Tribe, a this First Nation in southern Alberta, Canada had a population of 12,800 (2015) and occupied approximately 549.7 square miles (884.6 km). They are part of the Niitsítapi or Blackfoot Confederacy. Historic Blackfoot territory extends from the Rocky Mountains to the West; the Sand Hills to the East; to the North Saskatchewan in the North, and the Yellowstone in the South. Sick of the stereotyping of the Indigenous representation she saw in galleries, she decided to start creating things that 'have a metaphorical jump' where the viewer can understand Indigenous issues in terms they can relate to within their own culture.

Exhibitions Cardinal-Schubert's exhibited her artwork nationally and internationally with over 26 solo exhibitions and numerous touring group exhibitions. Beyond History at the Vancouver Art Gallery (1989) INDIGENA: Perspectives of Indigenous Peoples on Five Hundred Years at the Canadian Museum of Civilization (1992) (Solo exhibit) Prairie Counter-plain - The Quilt Series, Masters Gallery Calgary Alberta 1997 (Solo exhibit) Prairie Mask, Derek Simpkins Tribal Arts Gallery, Calgary Alberta 1997 (Solo exhibit) Joane Cardinal-Schubert, Masters gallery. Calgary, Alberta 1994 (Solo exhibit) Joane Cardinal-Schubert RCA, Imperial Oil Gallery, Museum of the Regiments, Calgary Alberta 1994 (Solo exhibit) With Emily Carr (letters to Emily), Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC 1994 (Solo exhibit) Joane Cardinal-Schubert, Keepers Counting-group, Gallery of Tribal Art, Vancouver BC1994 (Solo exhibit) Joane Cardinal-Schubert, Looking and Seeing, Gallery of Tribal Art, Vancouver, BC 1992 (Solo exhibit) Birch Bark Letters to Emily Carr, Vik Gallery, Edmonton Alberta 1991 (Solo exhibit) Joane Cardinal-Schubert, Inter-media Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota 1991 (Solo exhibit) Letters to Ottawa... Oka... Oka...Aiiee!, Ufindi Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario 1991 (Solo exhibit) Preservation of a Species: Cultural Currency, The Lesson, Articule Gallery. Montreal, Quebec 1990 (Solo exhibit) Preservation of a Species: Deconstructionists, Ottawa School of Art Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario 1990 (Solo exhibit) Joane Cardinal-Schubert, Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, California 1989 (Solo exhibit) Joane Cardinal-Schubert - Preservation of a Species, 1987-88 Gulf Canada Square Gallery, Calgary, Alberta 1988 (Solo exhibit) Preservation of a Species: Keeper, Muttart Public Gallery