artist biography

Dale Auger

Canadian, Cree [1958-2008]

Dale Auger, born in High Prairie, Alberta, was a Sakaw Cree artist and storyteller from the Bigstone Cree Nation in northern Alberta and had a huge influence in both art and education until his untimely death from cancer in 2008 at the age of 50.

Dale Auger was a renowned artist whose vibrant acrylic and oil paintings are held in many notable public and private collections around the world. Through his strong, intensely colourful images, he told a story of his ancestors and the Native spiritual life.

Auger was an accomplished motivational speaker, playwright, comedian, and author of an award-winning children's book, "Mwakwa - Talks to the Loon", for which he was awarded Aboriginal Children's Book of the Year in 2006; and received the 2007 R. Ross Annett Award for Children's Literature, along with many other honors.

Dr. Auger embodied the spirit of the loon which could live in many worlds. Dale studied at Grant MacEwan College, for which he was awarded the Alumni of the Year, Mount Royal College, Alberta College of Art and Design, and the University of Calgary, where he completed his Bachelor of Education in 1992; Master in Education in 1996; and, ultimately, his PhD. in Education in 1999.

He made his home in Bragg Creek, Alberta and was posthumously honoured as the 2009 inductee into the Western Art Show’s Hall of Fame at the world-famous Calgary Stampede.