Carmen Robertson
{{short description|Writer and scholar of art history and indigenous peoples}}
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| name = Carmen Robertson
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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1962}}
| birth_place = Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan, Canada
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| sub_discipline = Women and Gender Studies
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| alma_mater = Portland State University,
University of Victoria,
Brock University,
University of Calgary
| thesis_title = Reel artists: National Film Board of Canada portrayals of contemporary aboriginal and Inuit artists and their art.
| thesis_url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/71816497
| thesis_year = 2005
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| workplaces = University of Regina
| notable_works = Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspapers
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Carmen L. Robertson is a writer and scholar of art history and Indigenous peoples. She is Canada Research Chair in North American Art and Material Culture in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Carleton University. Before joining Carleton, Robertson was an associate professor in the Faculty of Media, Art & Performance at the University of Regina (2006-2012). She also served as the Indian Fine Arts department head at the First Nations University of Canada where she taught from 2000-2006. Robertson works to promote the awareness of Aboriginal artists.{{Cite journal|last=Coutre|first=Joe|date=March 2008|title=Prairie Art Needs More Exposure|journal=Windspeaker|volume=25|issue=12|page=20|issn=0834-177X}} A number of Robertson's writings focus on the Aboriginal Canadian artist Norval Morrisseau.{{cite news|last1=Garrick|first1=Rick|title=The genius of Morrisseau|url=http://issuu.com/anishinabeknews/docs/for_web/22|work=Anishinabek News|date=September 2013|page=22}}{{cite news|last1=Head|first1=Tiffany|title=Celebrating Norval Morrisseau's life and art|url=https://www.eaglefeathernews.com/arts/index.php?detail=1073|work=Eagle Feather News|date=February 12, 2015}} She is past president of the Native Heritage Foundation of Canada.
Early life
Robertson was born in Balcarres, Saskatchewan,{{cn|date=March 2025}} of Lakota and Scottish ancestry.{{cite news|last1=Callison|first1=Candis|author-link= Candis Callison |title=Enduring Colonialism in Canadian News|url=http://canlit.ca/article/enduring-colonialism-in-canadian-news/|work=Canadian Literature}}
She received her BA in Liberal Arts at Portland State University in 1989, her MA in Art History at University of Victoria in 1993, her MEd in Aboriginal Adult Education at Brock University in 2001, and her PhD in Educational Research at the University of Calgary in 2005.{{Cite web|url=http://www.acc-cca.com/wordpress/carmen-robertson/|title=Carmen Robertson|website=Aboriginal Curatorial Collective / Collectif des commissaires autochtones|access-date=2016-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309051323/http://www.acc-cca.com/wordpress/carmen-robertson/|archive-date=2016-03-09|url-status=usurped}}{{cite thesis | degree = Ph.D | last = Robertson | first = Carmen | date = 2005 | title = Reel artists: National Film Board of Canada portrayals of contemporary aboriginal and Inuit artists and their art | publisher = University of Calgary | oclc = 71816497 | isbn = 9780494046104 }}
Career
Robertson's best-known book is Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspapers,{{cite news|last1=Watson|first1=H. G.|title=Indigenous journalists are changing the news in Saskatchewan|url=http://www.j-source.ca/article/indigenous-journalists-are-changing-news-saskatchewan|work=J-Source|date=November 17, 2015}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.quillandquire.com/review/seeing-red-a-history-of-natives-in-canadian-newspapers/|title=Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspapers|website=Quill and Quire|date=15 November 2011|access-date=2016-03-12|quote=There is no denying that the new book by University of Regina professors Mark Cronlund Anderson and Carmen L. Robertson is a valuable and valiant effort.}} co-written with Mark Cronlund Anderson.{{cite news|last1=Sinclair|first1=Niigaanwewidam James|title=Red difficult to find in black and white newspapers|url=https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/books/red-difficult-to-find-in-black-and-white-newspapers-133735198.html|work=Winnipeg Free Press|date=November 12, 2011}}{{cite journal|last1=Edwards|first1=Brendan F.R.|title=Mark Cronlund Anderson and Carmen L. Robertson. Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspapers|journal=Native Studies Review|date=2012|volume=21|issue=1|pages=153–154|url=https://publications.usask.ca/nativestudiesreview/reviews/21-1Reviews.pdf}}{{cite news|last1=Thompson|first1=Jon|title=Book examines portrayal of First Nations in media|url=http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/2012/02/18/book-examines-portrayal-of-first-nations-in-media|work=Kenora Daily Miner and News|date=February 18, 2012|access-date=March 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311070757/http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/2012/02/18/book-examines-portrayal-of-first-nations-in-media|archive-date=March 11, 2016|url-status=dead}} Seeing Red is a study about how Canadian English-language newspapers portray Aboriginal people.{{cite news|last1=MacFarlane|first1=Christine|title=2011 Review: Seeing Red: A History of Natives in Canadian Newspapers|url=http://www.ammsa.com/content/2011-review-seeing-red-history-natives-canadian-newspapers|work=Windspeaker - AMMSA|date=2011|access-date=2016-03-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311071805/http://www.ammsa.com/content/2011-review-seeing-red-history-natives-canadian-newspapers|archive-date=2016-03-11|url-status=dead}} Seeing Red received the Saskatchewan Book Award for Scholarly Writing (2011), First Peoples' Writing (2011), and Regina Book of The Year (2011).{{cite web|title=Archived Nominees|url=http://www.bookawards.sk.ca/awards/awards-nominees/archived-nominees|publisher=Saskatchewan Book Awards|access-date=10 March 2016}}
Robertson co-edited Clearing a Path: New Ways of Seeing Traditional Indigenous Art with Sherry Farrell Racette. This book was published by Regina: Canadian Plains Research Centre in 2009 and it looks at notable Saskatchewan Metis artists.{{Cite web|url=http://www.goodminds.com/clearing-path-new-ways-seeing-traditional-indigenous-art-hardcover-ed|title=Clearing a Path: New Ways of Seeing Traditional Indigenous Art, hardcover ed|website=goodminds.com|access-date=2016-03-08}}
A number of Robertson's writings focus on the Aboriginal Canadian artist Norval Morrisseau, including Norval Marisseau: A Complex but Critical Legacy.{{Cite web|url=http://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/coming-soon/norval-morrisseau|title=Art Canada Institute - Institut de l\xe2\x80\x99art canadien|website=www.aci-iac.ca|access-date=2016-03-17}} In 2019, she notably testified in the Court of Appeal for Ontario on the in-authenticity of a Morrisseau painting purchased at Maslak-McLeod Gallery by collector Kevin Hearn.{{Cite web |title=Hearn v. McLeod Estate, 2019 ONCA 682 |url=https://www.ontariocourts.ca/decisions/2019/2019ONCA0682.htm}}{{Cite web |title=Court's New Morrisseau Forgery Decision a "Big Warning to Art Dealers" |url=https://canadianart.ca/news/courts-new-morrisseau-forgery-decision-a-big-warning-to-art-dealers/}} This case is featured in the documentary There are no Fakes, produced by TV Ontario, in 2020.{{Cite web |title=TVO Original "There Are No Fakes" reveals a dark tale of Indigenous art fraud and the legacy of a Canadian artistic icon |url=https://www.tvo.org/about/tvo-original-there-are-no-fakes-reveals-a-dark-tale-of-indigenous-art-fraud-and-the-legacy-of-a}}
Robertson has curated a number of exhibitions in Canada, including Dana Claxton: The Sioux Project—Tatanka Oyate at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, in Regina, Saskatchewan September–January 2017 – 2018.
Robertson is a past president of the Native Heritage Foundation of Canada, where she advocated accessibility and preservation for collections of aboriginal Canadian art.{{cite web|last1=Robertson|first1=Carmen|title=Letter #12: Carmen Robertson, Native Heritage Foundation|url=https://fnuniv.wordpress.com/2010/02/14/letter-12/|website=Fund First Nations University Now!|date=14 February 2010|access-date=13 March 2016}} She also serves on the editorial board of the Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, published by Cambridge University Press.{{cite web|title=The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education: Journal Editorial Board|url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayMoreInfo?jid=JIE&type=eb|publisher=Cambridge University Press|access-date=13 March 2016}}
Selected bibliography
=Books =
- {{Cite book|title=Mythologizing Norval Morrisseau: art and the colonial narrative in the Canadian media|last=Robertson|first=Carmen L.|publisher=University of Manitoba Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0-88755-810-8|location=Winnipeg, MB}}
- {{Cite book|title=Norval Morisseau: Life & Work|last=Robertson|first=Carmen L.|publisher=Art Canada Institute|year=2016|isbn=978-1-4871-0086-5|location=Toronto, ON}}
- {{cite book|title=Seeing red : a history of Natives in Canadian newspapers|last2=Robertson|first2=Carmen L.|date=2011|publisher=University of Manitoba Press|isbn=978-0887557279|location=Winnipeg, MB|last1=Anderson|first1=Mark Cronlund}}
- {{cite book|title=Clearing a path : new ways of seeing traditional indigenous art|date=2009|publisher=University of Regina, Canadian Plains Research Center|isbn=9780889772267|location=Regina, SK|editor-last2=Racette|editor-first2=Sherry Farrell|editor-last1=Robertson|editor-first1=Carmen}}
- {{cite book|title=Abstraction and myth : Neal McLeod|date=2004|publisher=Dunlop Art Gallery|isbn=9781894882101|location=Regina, SK|last1=Robertson|first1=Carmen}}
- {{cite book|title=From wigwas to canvas : generations of Woodland art.|date=2002|publisher=MacKenzie Art Gallery|isbn=9781896470467|location=Regina, SK|last1=Robertson|first1=Carmen}}
- {{cite book|title=From wigwas to canvas : generations of Woodland art.|date=2002|publisher=MacKenzie Art Gallery|isbn=9781896470467|location=Regina, SK|last1=Robertson|first1=Carmen}}
- {{cite book|last1=Robertson|first1=Carmen|title=Le consentement|date=1999|publisher=La Plume d'oie|location=Cap-Saint-Ignace, Québec|isbn=9782922183887}}
- {{cite book|last1=Robertson|first1=Carmen L.|title=Gender relations and the Noli Me Tangere scene in renaissance Italy|date=1993|publisher=s.n.]|isbn=9780315843660}}
= Articles =
- "Land and Beaded Identity: Shaping Art Histories of Indigenous Women of the Flatland". Revue d'art canadienne/Canadian Art Review, Vol. 432, No. 2 : 13-29. 2017.
- {{cite journal|title=Thunderbirds and Concepts of Transformation in the Art of Norval Morrisseau|journal=Journal of Canadian Art History|volume=33|issue=2|date=2012|pages=53–70|jstor=42616592|last1=Robertson|first1=Carmen L.}}
- {{cite journal|title=Utilizing PEARL to Teach Indigenous Art History: A Canadian Example |journal=Australian Journal of Indigenous Education|volume=41 |issue=1 |date=2012|pages=60–66|doi=10.1017/jie.2012.9|last1=Robertson|first1=Carmen|s2cid=145106585 }}
- {{cite book|editor-first1=Aloys N. M. |editor-last1=Fleischmann |editor-first2= Nancy |editor-last2=Van Styvendale |editor-first3= Cody|editor-last3= McCarroll|chapter=Imaginary Citizens: The White Paper and the Whitewash in the Press|title=Narratives of Citizenship: Indigenous and Diasporic Peoples Unsettle the Nation State|date=2011|publisher=University of Alberta Press |location=Edmonton |isbn=978-0-88864-518-0 |pages=233–262}}
- {{cite book|last1=Martin|first1=Lee-Ann|title=Bob Boyer : his life's work / le Travail D'une Vie, with essays by Ted Godwin, Carmen Robertson, Alfred Young Man|date=2008|publisher=MacKenzie Art Gallery|location=Regina|isbn=9781896470689}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20180105154008/https://www.uregina.ca/mediaartperformance/faculty-staff/faculty/f-robertson-carmen.html Carmen Robertson], Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance, University of Regina.
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Category:Brock University alumni
Category:Linguists from Canada
Category:People from Fort Qu'Appelle
Category:Portland State University alumni
Category:University of Calgary alumni