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Norman Vorano

Department Head and Director of the Fine Art Program, and Associate Professor of Art History

Department of Art History and Art Conservation

Arts and Sciences

norman.vorano@queensu.ca

(613) 533 6000 x77350

Ontario Hall

People Directory Affiliation Category
Art History
Faculty

Research Interests


Indigenous North American arts of the 19th and 20th centuries, Arctic arts, museum and curatorial studies, global Indigenous arts, cultural heritage studies/digital cultural heritage.  

Biography 


Norman Vorano is an art historian and curator whose work bridges the classroom, the museum, historic sites, archives and communities. He specializes in the historic and contemporary arts of Indigenous North America—especially the Arctic—and in the broader questions that arise when Indigenous visual cultures meet colonial institutions and global audiences. His research and teaching examines museum and curatorial studies, along with digital/cultural heritage studies, including site scanning for historical analysis and preservation. 

A Queen’s National Scholar in Indigenous Art and Material Culture, Norman Vorano received his PhD from the University of Rochester’s Program in Visual and Cultural Studies and his MA (Art History) and BFA (Visual Art) from York University, Toronto. From 2005 to 2014, he was the Curator of Contemporary Inuit Art at the (formerly Canadian Museum of Civilization), and was the Curator of Indigenous Art at the from 2014 - 2019. He has been an elected board member of the Native American Art Studies Association (NAASA), served on the editorial board of the Inuit Art Quarterly, and is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. He is a 2017 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Fellow.

Research & Curatorial Practice


Global Indigenous modernisms. A research partner in the Cambridge‑based project , Vorano examines Indigenous artists worldwide who have navigated and reshaped twentieth‑century modernism, with a particular emphasis upon . 

Northern community partnerships. His long‑term fieldwork in , Nunavut, links local artists and knowledge‑keepers with museum collections held far from the Arctic, supporting community access and cultural sovereignty.

Exhibitions on the move. Major touring shows include (Canada/Japan, 2011‑13) and (Canada‑wide tour 2017‑19 with satellite venues in Kanngiqtugaapik/Clyde River, Mittimatalik/Pond Inlet, and Iqaluit).

Digital heritage documentation. As co‑director of the , Vorano deploys 3‑D laser scanning, photogrammetry, and VR/AR platforms to model endangered architectures, producing interactive archives that serve both community stewardship, historical documentation and cutting‑edge preservation research.

Teaching & Supervision
Vorano welcomes graduate students interested in:

  • Indigenous art histories and global Indigenous studies
  • Contact‑zone aesthetics and the politics of display
  • Museum and curatorial studies, including collections repatriation, community-based research
  • Digital heritage: 3‑D/VR documentation, laser scanning, interactive exhibitions, and other emerging technologies
  • Marketing, circulation, and reception of Indigenous material culture

Recent upper‑level seminars have tackled Indigenous modernisms, culture‑as‑commodity, and immersive digital museum environments. Introductory courses survey the arts of Indigenous North America, curatorial studies, and a special attention to Inuit visual culture.

Why study with Norman?
Students gain hands‑on experience with museum collections, digital documentation methods, and community‑engaged research—skills that translate to curatorial work, heritage policy, and advanced scholarship alike.

To discuss graduate supervision or collaborative projects, feel free to get in touch.

Recent Books

Recent Publications

(Open Access) ISSN: 0143-9685 , 1465-3451; DOI: 10.1080/01439685.2025.2477339

“Inuit Prints,” Here Now: Indigenous Arts of North America at the Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO: Denver Art Museum/Hirmer Press, 2021: 242-247.

“Things: The Agency of Objects or Objects of Appropriation? The Toronto Airport Inuksuit,” in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Visual Culture, edited by Catherine Zuromskis, Joan Saab, and Aubrey Anable, 2020. (peer reviewed)

With Jennifer Burgess, “‘Even Banks Have Large Windows That Need Draperies’: Marketing Canada in Cape Dorset Textiles,” in Qallunaaqtait Sikusilaarmit: Printed Textiles from Kinngait Studios, Edited by Roxane Shaughnessy and Anna Richard, Toronto, ON: Textile Museum of Canada: 65 – 73, 2019.

“Cape Dorset Cosmopolitans: Making ‘Local’ Prints in Global Modernity,” in Mapping Modernisms: Indigenous and Colonial Networks of Artistic Exchange, Edited by Ruth Phillips and Elizabeth Harney, Duke University Press: 209-234, 2018. (peer reviewed)

“We All Have to Live By What We Know’: Activating Memoryscapes in the North Baffin Inuit Drawing Collection to Understand Environmental Change,” Artistic Visions of the Anthropocene North: Climate Change and Nature in Art, Edited by Gry Hedin and Ann-Sofie Gremaud, London, UK: Routledge: 76-93, 2018.

“Curatorial Notes: Picturing Arctic Modernity,” Inuit Art Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Fall): 134 – 139, 2017.

“Inuit Art: Canada’s Soft Power Resource to Fight Communism,” Journal of Curatorial Studies, Vol. 5, No. 13 (2016): 312-338, 2016.

“Angokwazhuk’s Walrus Tusk,” in Art of the North American Indians: The Thaw Collection, edited by Eva Fognell, Alexander Brier Marr, Gilbert Vincent, Sherry Brydon and Ralph T. Coe, Cooperstown, NY: Fenimore Art Museum: 498, 2016.

Media and Public Scholarship