Allen Sapp’s paintings of Cree life in the Saskatchewan prairies during the 1930s and 40s are all about lyrical nostalgia, but the self-taught artist is so unabashed in his remembrance of the way things were, even the most cynical cannot help but feel a slight tug at the heart with his depictions of such charmed banalities as his grandfather stretching weasel skins in the kitchen. Sapp’s career took off when a certain Dr. Gonor got him off the dole and onto the gallery circuit. In 1989 the Allen Sapp Gallery was established in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, where the artist now works and lives. I Heard the Drums offers a short life story by the artist and 75 reproductions of his work. Compact in size, charmingly naive, maudlin and melancholy, Sapp’s paintings are as delicate as jewels.