Background
Houston, James Archibald was born on June 12, 1921 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Son of James Donald and Gladys Maud (Barbour) Houston.
(condensed versions of listed titles.)
condensed versions of listed titles.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EEN3V0/?tag=2022091-20
(James Houston lived among Inuit in the Canadian Arctic be...)
James Houston lived among Inuit in the Canadian Arctic between 1948 and 1962. He slept in their igloos, ate raw fish and seal meat, wore skin clothing, traveled by dog team, hunted walrus,learned how to build a snowhouse, and raised a family. While doing so, he helped change the Arctic. Impressed by the natural artistic skills of the people, he encouraged the development of exhibits and sales of Inuit art in the south - sales that have brought millions of dollars to its creators. Confessions of an Igloo Dweller, a wonderful piece of storytelling, recounts Houston's fascinating and often hilarious adventures among a confident, smiling people who spoke no English. Taking readers into the heart of Inuit culture, it joins the tradition established by Fridtjof Nansen, Vilhjalmur Stefansson, and Farley Mowat. A book full of adventure and anecdote as well as the delights of art and the hazards of cold, it is illustrated with forty drawings by the author.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395788900/?tag=2022091-20
( In 1896, three survivors from a whaling misadventure ar...)
In 1896, three survivors from a whaling misadventure are nursed back to health by Eskimo villagers who share their food, women, and way of life with the strangers. In return, the foreigners introduce to the villagers the spirit of competitiveness that rules the white man's world. Map and drawings by the Author.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/015696256X/?tag=2022091-20
(A novel based on the memoirs of ironsmith John Jewitt, wh...)
A novel based on the memoirs of ironsmith John Jewitt, who was one of two survivors of a Pacific Coast Nootkan Indian village massacre in 1803 and who lived with the Nootkans for two years.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0151271178/?tag=2022091-20
(In the black hours of a wintry night Inuit hunters fight ...)
In the black hours of a wintry night Inuit hunters fight their way through a storm to the camp of the administrator of Baffin Island. Their dog sled carries a dying man who clearly terrifies them. Revived by the officer, the man, Shoona, lives long enough to tell his story. An unwanted orphan in his youth, Shoona is taught to be a “spirit wrestler,” a shaman capable of influencing the demons and spirits that control human destiny. Revered at first for his magic, Shoona becomes a feared outcast when his enemies are overtaken by uncanny and fatal events. Then, out of pride, he steals the sacred amulets of the powerful sea goddess Sedna, and is confronted by a mysterious white man who is obsessed with Inuit lore, and who soon attracts Shoona’s wife. Compelling in narrative, rich in character and authentic background, Spirit Wrestler is a saga of the 1950s that illuminates the striking interplay of legend and reality. Long after its startling conclusion, this tale will live on hauntingly in the memory of readers.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/015184755X/?tag=2022091-20
(These memoirs of James Houston’s life in the Canadian Arc...)
These memoirs of James Houston’s life in the Canadian Arctic from 1948 to 1962 present a colorful and compelling adventure story of real people living through a time of great change. It is extraordinarily rich material about a fascinating, distant world. Houston, a young Canadian artist, was on a painting trip to Moose Factory at the south end of Hudson Bay in 1948. A bush pilot friend burst into his room with the news that a medical emergency meant that he could get a free flight into the heart of the eastern Arctic. When they arrived, Houston found himself surrounded by smiling Inuit – short, strong, utterly confident people who wore sealskins and spoke no English. By the time the medical plane was about to leave, Houston had decided to stay. It was a decision that changed his life. For more than a dozen years he spent his time being educated by those kindly, patient people who became his friends. He slept in their igloos, ate raw fish and seal meat, wore skin clothing, traveled by dog team, hunted walrus, and learned how to build a snowhouse. While doing so, he helped change the North. Impressed by the natural artistic skills of the people, he encouraged the development of outlets in the South for their work, and helped establish co-ops in the North for Inuit carvers and print-makers. Since that time, after trapping as a way of gaining income began to disappear, Inuit art has brought millions of dollars to its creators, and has affected art galleries around the world. In the one hundred short chapters that make up this book, James Houston tells about his fascinating and often hilarious adventures in a very different culture. He tells of raising a family in the Arctic (his sons bursting into tears on being told they were not really Inuit), and of the failure to introduce soccer to a people who refused to look on other humans as opponents. He tells about great characters – Inuit and kallunait – who populated the Arctic in these long-lost days when, as a Government go-between, he found himself grappling with Northern customs that broke Southern laws. A remarkable, modestly told story by a truly remarkable man.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0771042868/?tag=2022091-20
(Unjustly banished from Scotland, William Stewart and Than...)
Unjustly banished from Scotland, William Stewart and Thana, a beautiful Dene Indian girl, journey deep into the heart of the unexplored sub-Arctic wilderness, in a story of love and survival set in eighteenth-century Canada. Reprint. K.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0517577321/?tag=2022091-20
( A novel that shares a time and place with The Last of t...)
A novel that shares a time and place with The Last of the Mohicans, relating the experiences of a young woman caught in the fury of the French and Indian Wars. Seventeen-year-old Sarah Wells is taken from a New Hampshire farm by Abnaki Indians and renamed "Ghost Fox." Line drawings by the Author.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/015135300X/?tag=2022091-20
Houston, James Archibald was born on June 12, 1921 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Son of James Donald and Gladys Maud (Barbour) Houston.
Student, Ontario College Art, 1938-1940; honorary fellow, Ontario College Art, 1981; student, Ecole Grande Chaumiere, Paris, 1947-1948; student, Unichi Hiratsuka, Tokyo, 1958-1959; Doctor of Letters (honorary), Carleton U., Ottawa, 1972; Doctor of Humane Letters (honorary), Rhode Island College, 1975; Doctor of Fine Arts (honorary), Rhode Island School Design, 1979; DDL (honorary), Dalhousie U., 1987.
Northern service officer, Federal Government Canada, 1952-1954; officer-in-charge, Eastern Arctic Patrol, 1953-1955; civil administrator, West Baffin Island, N.W. Territory, 1954-1962; associate director design, Steuben Glass, New York City, 1962-1971; consultative director design, Steuben Glass, New York City, since 1972; master designer, Steuben Glass, New York City, since 1988.
(Unjustly banished from Scotland, William Stewart and Than...)
(A novel based on the memoirs of ironsmith John Jewitt, wh...)
(These memoirs of James Houston’s life in the Canadian Arc...)
( In 1896, three survivors from a whaling misadventure ar...)
( A novel that shares a time and place with The Last of t...)
(In the black hours of a wintry night Inuit hunters fight ...)
(James Houston lived among Inuit in the Canadian Arctic be...)
(Eskimo Prints Paperback Jan 01, 1971 Houston, James)
(condensed versions of listed titles.)
(Book by Houston, James D.)
Honorary vice president West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative. Active design and promotion, World Wildlife Fund, Eskimo Print Portfolio, 1979. Member Northern Arts Committee, Arctic Institute North America, Inuit art advisory committee Art Gallery Ontario, Toronto, Canada.
Board directors Arctic Society of Canada, Inuit Tapirisat Canada. Board governors Anthropology Museum Brown University. Board directors Alaskan Indian Arts.
President Escoheag School History Society, since 1976. With Toronto Scottish Regiment Canada Army, 1940-1945. Fellow Royal Society Arts.
Member Producers Guild American, Arctic Society of Canada, Inuit Tapirisat Canada, Explorer's Club (New York City), Century Association (New York City).
Married Alice Daggett Watson, December 9, 1967. Children: John James, Samuel Douglas.