Super Fun Art Activity Book: Saskatchewan Edition

Super Art Activity Fun Book: Saskatchewan Edition is an activity book about contemporary visual art in the province of Saskatchewan from 1960 to 2014. Super Art Activity Fun Book reenvisions classic children’s games for an adult audience. It’s chock full of word searches, mad libs, dot-to-dots, mazes, crossword puzzles, logic games, and much more. Super Art Activity Fun Book doesn’t just provide textbook facts on well-known artists— it tells surprising stories and anecdotes that bring provincial art to life. Edition of 300.

By positioning the “specialist” knowledge of contemporary art in a fun context usually occupied by “basic information”, Super Art Activity Fun Book challenges public assumptions about whether art’s disciplinary concerns have wider significance (as I argue they do). Super Art Activity Fun Book‘s cheeky, nostalgic games encourage exploration, while teaching visual literacy and art historical knowledge. At the same time, humour soothes the sting that comes from interrogating institutions, regionalisms, and artistic canon.

***FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS***

“Is this a history book?”
No! Super Art Activity Fun Book: Saskatchewan Edition is NOT intended as a comprehensive survey of art in the province. It is cheeky and highly biased toward art I personally think is interesting, contentious, or has didactic potential. I am neither a curator nor a historian (although I think curators and historians are awesome). I am a visual artist, and also an art fan.

“Is this for kids?”
Not specifically! It looks like a children’s book, but it’s actually aimed at adults. If you give it to your kids they will love some bits and may not quite understand others, but there is nothing in it that you’d need to hide from them. — Unless discussion of queerness or colonialism offends you, in which case this book is probably not for you.

“But I don’t know much about art…”
That’s ok! With a few exceptions (the crosswords), puzzles require no knowledge of art.

“So why do I care about Saskatchewan art?”
Don’t buy into urban-centric art historical narratives which would have you believe that important contemporary art only happens in big (read: American) cities! It’s not true. Art is all over. Super Art Activity Fun Book: Saskatchewan Edition embraces the province’s fantastic and terrible regionalism, and all its weird/monotonous/shocking stories.

In Super Art Activity Fun Book I give Saskatchewan a hug, then I pull down its pants.