Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

"PEMMICAN MAKERS"

Date

1987

Materials

CERAMIC, WOOD, CLOTH, LEATHER, MOSS

No. Pieces

1

Length

54.4

Width

43.4

Description

TWO NATIVE WOMEN PREPARING PEMMICAN. CHARACTERS ARE SCULPTED FROM CLAY AND FIRED. DRESSED IN COTTON FROCKS. MOSS IS USED TO IMITATE GROUND. BEEF JERKY SIMULATES PEMMICAN.

Subjects

ART

INDIGENOUS

Historical Association

ETHNOGRAPHIC

History

DIORAMA PURCHASED FROM HARRISON RED CROW, A MEMBER OF THE KAINAI NATION FROM THE KAINAI RESERVE. ***UPDATE: ON NOVEMBER 6, 2020, GALT STAFF AIMEE BENOIT AND KEVIN MACLEAN ENGAGED KAINAI ARTIST HARRISON RED CROW ON HIS ‘PEMMICAN MAKERS’ DIORAMA, ITS INSPIRATION AND ORIGINS, AND ITS OFFER TO THE GALT. RED CROW TOLD STAFF THAT IN THE 1980S, AS A YOUTH, HE HAD ACCESS TO ELDERLY MEMBERS OF HIS BLACKFOOT COMMUNITY. WITH INTENSE INTEREST, HE WOULD WATCH THEIR EXPRESSIONS, NOTE THEIR MANNER OF DRESS AND LISTEN TO THEIR STORIES, AND IN LATER YEARS DEVELOP HIS MEMORIES OF THEM INTO HIS PERSONAL ART. ANOTHER INSPIRATION, STATED RED CROW, WAS GERMAN ARTIST WINOLD REISS, WHO PRODUCED BLACKFOOT PORTRAITS. ON HIS ARTISTIC PRACTICE AND THE ‘PEMMICAN MAKERS’ PHYSICAL GENERATION, RED CROW TOLD MUSEUM STAFF HE USED PORCELAIN TO FORM THE DIORAMA FIGURES' BODIES. EARLY ATTEMPTS WERE LACKING DETAIL, APPEARING CLUMSY, HE SAID; BUT HE EVENTUALLY BECAME BETTER, TAKING CARE TO DEVELOP HIS FIGURES’ PORCELAIN-SCULPTED HANDS. THEREAFTER, THE FIGURES WERE FIRED IN A KILN IN FORT MACLEOD. ON THE ‘PEMMICAN MAKERS’ OFFER TO THE GALT MUSEUM, RED CROW SAID HE SOLD THE WORK TO FORMER GALT CURATOR JACK ELLIOT WHO HE APPROACHED ABOUT A POTENTIAL SALE AND MUSEUM ACQUISITION. RED CROW INFORMED GALT STAFF THAT ‘THE PEMMICAN MAKERS’ WAS ONE AMONG OTHER WORKS MADE AND SOLD. AT APPROXIMATELY THE SAME TIME AS THE GALT SALE, EXAMPLES OF HIS BLACKFOOT LIFE DIORAMA SCENES TRAVELLED TO CALGARY TO BE EXHIBITED AT THE GLENBOW MUSEUM DURING THE ’88 OLYMPICS. HE RECALLED THAT AT LEAST ONE WAS ACQUIRED BY THE GLENBOW FOR ITS COLLECTION. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS WORK AND/OR TO CONSULT THE 2020 INTERVIEW, PLEASE SEE PERMANENT FILE.

Catalogue Number

P19870008000

Acquisition Date

1987-06

Collection

Museum

Less detail