"Jackson Beardy was an artist, art advisor and cultural consultant. As a symbol of Canadian artistic and cultural achievement, his artworks were commissioned for international gifts to illustrious world figures such as Queen Elizabeth II (1979), Prince Mikasa, Crown Prince of Japan (1980), And His Excellency Edward Schreyer, Governor-General of Canada (1979). The artist was awarded the Canadian Centennial Medal in 1967; a Canada Council grant for writing in 1972; the Junior Achievement Award in 1974; and the Outstanding Young Manitoban Award in 1982. His painting, his writing and his teaching all attest to Jackson Beardy's enlightened determination to recall and to record in a meaningful way the heritage of his people for the benefit of present and future generations. Jackson Beardy died in 1984." (Colleen Cutschall: Jaxon Beerdi - Ambassador, Alchemist, Artist. In Jackson Beardy A Life's Work. Canadian Cataloging, WAG, 1994. P.21)
Jack Shadbolt was born in Shoeburyness, England in 1909. His home in Canada is Vancouver; Shadbolt also resided in New York and Southern France for prolonged periods of time. After his stay at the Mediterranean, Shadbolt's palette lightened and his medium changed to oil. His work became abstract, mosaic-like, creating architectonic vision by splitting color. Shadbolt is considered one of Canada's most important abstract artists. (The Crisis of Abstraction in Canada. Denise Lecler. P.178-9). Jack Shadbolt taught at the Vancouver School of Art and, before his retirement in 1966, was a catalyst for West Coast art as a teacher, lecturer and writer. 'Rocks' is one of the artist's earlier pieces - representational in subject matter and executed in watercolor, his first medium. (1996 inventory)
Only weeks after they had been ordered by Agent McLaughlin (center) to arrest Sitting Bull as an attempt to calm the growing unrest from the Messiah Craze (Ghost Dance), the Sioux police pose victoriously for Barry's camera. The arrest attempt was disastrous, resulting in the deaths of six Indian police, Sitting Bull, his son Crow Foot and eight of Crow's followers. The panic which followed culminated in the infamous Wounded Knee affair two weeks later. Red Tomahawk (front center) killed Sitting Bull. (Harbaugh, P., 1982)
