Sapp, Allen 1929-

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SAPP, Allen 1929-

Personal

Born 1929, in Red Pheasant Reserve, Saskatchewan, Canada; married, 1955; children: David. Education: Studied painting with Wynona Mulcaster, 1960s.

Addresses

Office— #1 Railway Ave. E., P.O. Box 460, North Battleford, Saskatchewan S9A 2Y6, Canada. E-mail— sapp@accesscomm.ca.

Career

Artist. Worked previously as a woodcutter and clerk in a hobby shop. Exhibitions: University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada, 1968; Alwin Gallery, London, England, 1970; Downstairs Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1971; The Gainsborough Galleries, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 1972; Gallery of the Golden Key, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 1972; Zachary Walter Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, 1974; Rowe House Gallery, Washington, D.C., 1976; Continental Galleries, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1977; Assiniboia Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, 1978; Robertson Galleries, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 1981; Heffel Galleries, Vancouver, 1985; La Galerie Continentale, Montreal, 1989; Allen Sapp Gallery: The Gonor Collection, North Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada, 1990; Wilfert's Hambleton Galleries, Kelowna, British Columbia, 1990; West End Gallery, Edmonton, 1991; Clymer Art Museum and Gallery, Ellensburg, Washington, D.C., 1992; Lourie Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1992; Hollander-York Gallery, Toronto, 1993; Masters Gallery, Calgary, 1993; Assiniboia Bessborough, 1994; Wilfert's Hambleton Galleries, 1994; Allen Sapp Retrospective, McKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, 1995-96; also participated in several group exhibitions.

Awards, Honors

Elected an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art, 1975; Saskatchewan Award of Merit, 1985; received the Order of Canada, 1987.

Writings

(Illustrator) A Cree Life: The Art of Allen Sapp, J. J. Douglas (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 1977.

(Self-illustrated) I Heard the Drums, Stoddart (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1996.

(Illustrator) David Bouchard, The Song Within My Heart, Raincoast (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada), 2002.

Sidelights

Allen Sapp had been a noted artist for many years before he illustrated his first children's book, The Song Within My Heart, in 2002. A member of the Cree nation and a direct descendant of Chief Red Pheasant, Sapp often paints events that he remembers from his childhood on the Red Pheasant reservation, in Saskatchewan, Canada. In The Song Within My Heart, these paintings are paired with a verse narrative by David Bouchard. Sapp was raised by his grandmother, or Nokum in Cree, after his mother died of tuberculosis. For The Song Within My Heart, Bouchard wrote the poetry based on Sapp's stories of his life with his grandmother. Preparations for a pow-wow provide a focus for the text, and the rhythms of the pow-wow, refrains of "BOOM boom boom boom" and "HI hey hey hey," run along the bottom of the pages. A Publishers Weekly reviewer praised Sapp's "richly texture[d]" illustrations of the pow-wow, writing, "A bright red shirt, Nokum's white braids, or the vivid, blue sky punctuate the mostly earthy hues for a striking contrast." Resource Links contributor Judy Cottrell thought that the book would be useful for teaching students about Native American culture, commenting, "The descriptions of childhood experiences will appeal to children of all ages."