• Age: 10
• Grade: 5

George Littlechild: The Spirit Giggles Within is a stunning retrospective of a career that has spanned nearly four decades. Featuring more than 150 of the Plains Cree artist’s mixed-media works, this sumptuous collection showcases the bold swaths of colour and subtle textures of Littlechild’s work.

 

Littlechild has never shied away from political or social themes. His paintings blaze with strong emotions ranging from anger to compassion, humour to spiritualism. Fully embracing his Plains Cree heritage, he combines traditional Cree elements like horses and transformative or iconic creatures with his own family and personal symbols in a unique approach.

 

George Littlechild: The Spirit Giggles Within shows the evolution of an artist from his earliest works to the present day, including hints of future directions and themes. An insightful foreword by artist and curator Ryan Rice, a Mohawk from the Kahnawake First Nation in Quebec, and Littlechild’s reflections on each piece build a broad understanding of Littlechild’s work, his life and his views on the role of art within all cultures.

George Littlechild was born in Alberta, the son of a Plains Cree mother and a Celtic father, and was raised by foster parents in Edmonton. George has exhibited in galleries around the world, and his art is in several important collections. Many of his paintings are inspired by the Cree concept of Wahkomkanak, which means "our ancestors." He has also written and illustrated several children's books, including This Land Is My Land, which won the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. He lives in Courtenay, BC, on Vancouver Island.

George Littlechild's profile page

Ryan Rice has worked at various museums and galleries, including the Iroquois Indian Museum and the Walter Phillips Art Gallery. His articles have been published in such periodicals as Canadian Art and Blackflash. Rice is a co-founder and former director of the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective. He is chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Ryan Rice's profile page

“George Littlechild paints with light and butterfly medicine. This retrospective showcases the brilliance, beauty and grace of his work.” —Richard Van Camp, author of A Man Called Raven

“[Littlechild] tends to celebrate the courage, perseverance, and beauty of his people while educating readers in a gentle direct way about the past. . . . Perhaps the most emphatic aspect of Littlechild’s work is its vibrancy. Images spring off the page in a fabulous concoction of colour. . . . The pictures can appear deceptively simple, but time spent looking at them and then reading the brief commentary opens up the richness that is Littlechild’s synthesis of imagination and reality.” —Candace Fertine, theCoastal Spectator

“Now, in the artist's own words, we have an articulate description of these varied subjects and his very personal relationship to them. . . . In this book, a number of digital images—computer-made collages—extend his take on half-breed culture in a new direction. He's an artist with something to say, and uses every means to say it.” —Robert Amos, Times Colonist

”Littlechild’s magical colour, thought-provoking images and commentary provide insight into his personal symbolism, which somehow transforms his story into everyone’s story.” —Sherry Farrell Racette, Artist, Timiskaming First Nation

“Like the ceremonial unwrapping of a sacred medicine bundle, this salient retrospective of masterworks is clearly George Littlechild’s master narrative . . . a rare autobiographical gaze into the artist’s private and public space.” —Barry Ace, Artist, Michigiwadinong First Nation

George Littlechild: The Spirit Giggles Within

This large format art book focuses on the narrative the art reveals about the artist George Littlechild’s personal history, art career and developing understanding of Native Canadian culture, politics and society. Over 145 colour plates and annotations, organized chronologically into three periods of the artist’s career, tell the story of his family and the stories of other Native and non-native Canadians. The extended captions also reveal the artist’s sources, background information about the piece, and how Littlechild developed artistically and personally. The book opens with an extended artist’s statement that provides a context to the provocative and unique art that is selected. An index of paintings is provided.

George Littlechild: The Spirit Giggles Within

This large format art book focuses on the narrative the art reveals about the artist George Littlechild’s personal history, art career and developing understanding of Native Canadian culture, politics and society. Over 145 colour plates and annotations, organized chronologically into three periods of the artist’s career, tell the story of his family and the stories of other Native and nonnative Canadians. The extended captions also reveal the artist’s sources, background information about the piece, and how Littlechild developed artistically and personally. The book opens with an extended artist’s statement that provides a context to the provocative and unique art that is selected. An index of paintings is provided.