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Home > Featured Illustrator
Allen Sapp is the Governor General’s Award-winning illustrator of The Song within My Heart.
 Allen Sapp is a member of the Canadian Academy of Arts and an Officer of the Order of Canada. A Cree elder, he grew up on the Red
Pheasant reserve in northern Saskatchewan and now lives in nearby North Battleford. His paintings, mostly of life on the reserve, have appeared in exhibitions across Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. He has won many awards, including the Saskatchewan Order of Merit,
and three of his paintings were used as Christmas cards by UNICEF in 1996, to celebrate the organization’s 50th anniversary. Allen’s previous books include A Cree Life, Two Spirits Soar, Kiskayetum and I Heard the Drums.
Praise for Allen Sapp’s Art:
“One of the country’s hottest artists ... Sapp’s views are filled with an obvious love for a way of life that he is determined to document ... His art is rich with life’s small pleasures.” —Now magazine
“A radiant light permeates his paintings ... an atmosphere of stillness and timelessness and sensitivity to the nuances of nature: the texture of grass, the changes of the seasons, the shades of the sky.” —Christian Science Monitor
The Song within My Heart:
With narrative paintings of beautiful simplicity, Allen Sapp creates a work of transcendent dignity, powerfully confirming the ties that connect the generations. The Song within My Heart is the story of a young First Nations boy preparing for his first pow-wow. The young boy’s Nokum—his beloved grandmother—
guides him through the events of the day and helps him to understand what the singing and dancing are all about.
A note from Allen Sapp:
Parents and grandparents must teach young people the important things in life and help to preserve our culture so that Indian people will be proud of their heritage.
My father said I should thank Manito as I wake in the morning and before I go to sleep at night. He used to sing to me and one of my fondest memories is when he took me to my first pow-wow and while resting on his shoulders I heard the beat of the drums. He also encouraged me to let my hair grow long, to show people that I was a Naheyow, an Indian.
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