In her book, On the Art of Being Canadian, Sherril Grace explores what the arts can say about Canadian culture and identity. Grace argument is that the arts wield an immense amount of power on our lives as “collectively, they have and continue to represent, illustrate, narrate, shape, and inform identity [both personally and nationally].” Grace applies three subjects to illustrate and support her argument: through the North, the wars, and iconic figures. Grace’s book echoes much of Former governor general Vincent Massey own book, On Being Canadian. Where Massey stated that, “a national independence […] would be nothing but an empty shell without a vigorous and distinctive cultural life.” However, Grace’s book is not a recitation of Massey’s own work but is rather an expansion in order to further include a wider perspective of…show more content… Grace utilises many works of art in her book, both in the written form as well as through visual representations. She does not limit herself to analyzing one form of art. But rather she expands the category of art to include forms that may have been otherwise overlooked. She includes in her analysis of art such examples as paintings, photography, songs, poetry, film, opera, and plays to name a few. This variation can perhaps be best seen in, “Inventing Iconic Figures,” where a variety of art forms are shown in the invention of such Canadians as Métis leader, Louis Riel. Grace explains that “[Riel} has been invented and reinvented by poets, novelists, visual artists (including sculptors), filmmakers, popular singers, and inevitably by biographers.” She then goes on to further explain Riel’s invention into a Canadian iconic figure through this great variety of art forms. Through this far-reaching inquiry Grace has effectively shown the extent to which the many forms of art have encompassed and shaped Canadian
