Norval Morrisseau was born on March 14 or March 26, between 1931-1933, either at Sand Point Reserve near Beardmore, Ontario or Fort William, now part of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Morrisseau was a painter, carver, draughtsman, storyteller, teacher,  Grand Shaman, and was dubbed the “Picasso of the North” by the French press.

The first of five sons, Morrisseau was, according to Ojibway custom, raised by his grandparents. He learned about Ojibway beliefs and Anishnaabe cosmology from his grandfather who was a member of the Midewiwin religious society.  As a child, he also learned about Christianity from his Catholic grandmother.  In the 1970s, he became interested in the spiritual philosophy of Eckankar and its theories of astral visions and soul travel. All of these experiences influenced his artistic development.

Self-taught, Morrisseau began drawing the ancient stories of his people at a very young age. He was discouraged by some who believed that the communication of any content from the scrolls was strictly the task of a Shaman. While Morrisseau continued to paint, he studied his Anishnaabe heritage intensively until he himself became a Shaman.

In 1956, Morrisseau contracted tuberculosis and was admitted to the Thunder Bay Tuberculosis Sanatorium where he continued creating artwork. While there, he met Harriet Kakegamic and the couple married in 1957 and had six children.

In 1962, Morrisseau’s  work  attracted the attention of Toronto gallery owner Jack Pollack who organized a successful  solo exhibition of  the artist’s work. Over the next decade, Morrisseau  developed his unique painting style termed the “Woodlands School” which was known for its vibrant colours, x-ray impressions, and flat forms separated by thick black lines.  His art influenced the work on numerous First Nation artists including Daphne Odjig, and Carl Ray.

Morrisseau was also known as Copper Thunderbird, a name he was given as a young man. “In Ojibway culture, the thunderbird acts as a go-between; in combination with “copper,” the name suggests that Morrisseau has the ability to unite opposing powers of underwater/underearth and above sky.” Morrisseau signed all of his works in Cree syllabics as Copper Thunderbird.

“Through the 1970s and ’80s, Morrisseau’s “eccentricities” – binge drinking and often a hand-to-mouth street existence – were the despair of his friends and buyers of his work who were uncertain of the authenticity of his paintings. The artist admitted in 2004 he had signed other artists’ work ‘if they needed the money.’”

The prevalence of forgeries, however, became a great concern to Morrisseau, especially in his later years, and he actively sought to remove these from the marketplace. In 2005 he established the Norval Morrisseau Heritage Society (NMHS). The Society’s mandate is to catalogue and verify authentic Morrisseau paintings.

Morrisseau received numerous awards and honours in his lifetime including the Order of Canada in 1978, member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, recipient of Doctor of Laws, and Doctor of Letters,  holder of the Eagle Feather (the highest honour awarded by the Assembly of First Nations), and Grand Shaman. As well, he was the only Canadian painter invited to exhibit in the Paris French Revolution bicentennial in 1989.

In the last years of his life, Morrisseau was unable to paint. Afflicted by Parkinson’s disease, Norval Morrisseau died on December 4, 2007 in Toronto General Hospital. He was buried in Northern Ontario next to the grave of his ex-wife Harriet, on Anishinaabe land.

Related Books:
Copper Thunderbird
Norval Morrisseau: Shaman Artist
Canadian Paintings, Prints and Drawings

Sources:Virtual Museum, Kinsman Robinson, McMichael Gallery, Cybermuse, Maslak McLeod Gallery, Wikipedia, Toronto Star

Related posts:

1. Norval Morrisseau: 1932-2007
2. National Aboriginal Day: Indian Group of Seven
3. Leszek Andrzej Kostuj: Painting

Born in 1970 in Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canadian artist Brian Jungen has gained national and international recognition over the last ten years. A member of the Doig River Band of the Dunne-za First Nations, Jungen creates artwork that depicts traditional First Nation symbology using ordinary objects such as plastic lawn chairs, golf bags, and Nike Air Jordans.

Jungen graduated from Vancouver’s Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 1992. His work has exhibited extensively in Canada and internationally including the Tate Modern, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, which is currently staging a major retrospective of Jungen’s work.

Of his work, the artist says: “I wanted to address commercialism and the fetishization of trainers and aboriginal art. I also wanted to address the division of labour, the production of goods and the relationship between the First and Third Worlds. There is a developing world within the First World on First Nations reserves.”

Jungen’s “Prototypes” series transforms Nike Air Jordan sneakers into masks using the colours and styles of the Aboriginal Northwest Coast and three large-scale totem sculptures made from golf bags. His other works include , a life-sized igloo made with trash bins, three full-size whale skeletons made from pieces of white plastic lawn furniture, and an aboriginal-style blanket stitched out of professional sports jerseys.

Jungen recently received the 2010 Gershon Iskowitz Prize at the Art Gallery of Ontario for his outstanding contribution to visual arts in Canada. The Gershon Iskowitz Foundation and the AGO will celebrate the $25,000 prize at a public reception on May 6, and the AGO will mount an exhibition of Jungen’s work in the coming year.

Iskowitz Prize officials say his work is infused “with sociopolitical commentary, historic symbology, and an ingenious sense of play.”

To read more about Brian Jungen, see the sources links below.

Sources: The Canadian Press, CBC,  Art Daily, Catriona Jeffries Gallery,

Related posts:

1. Brian Dettmer: Book Sculpture
2. The Art of Recycling – Part II
3. Simon Boses: Sculpture

Norval Morrisseau was born on March 14 or March 26, between 1931-1933, either at Sand Point Reserve near Beardmore, Ontario or Fort William, now part of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Morrisseau was a painter, carver, draughtsman, storyteller, teacher,  Grand Shaman, and was dubbed the “Picasso of the North” by the French press.

The first of five sons, Morrisseau was, according to Ojibway custom, raised by his grandparents. He learned about Ojibway beliefs and Anishnaabe cosmology from his grandfather who was a member of the Midewiwin religious society.  As a child, he also learned about Christianity from his Catholic grandmother.  In the 1970s, he became interested in the spiritual philosophy of Eckankar and its theories of astral visions and soul travel. All of these experiences influenced his artistic development.

Self-taught, Morrisseau began drawing the ancient stories of his people at a very young age. He was discouraged by some who believed that the communication of any content from the scrolls was strictly the task of a Shaman. While Morrisseau continued to paint, he studied his Anishnaabe heritage intensively until he himself became a Shaman.

In 1956, Morrisseau contracted tuberculosis and was admitted to the Thunder Bay Tuberculosis Sanatorium where he continued creating artwork. While there, he met Harriet Kakegamic and the couple married in 1957 and had six children.

In 1962, Morrisseau’s  work  attracted the attention of Toronto gallery owner Jack Pollack who organized a successful  solo exhibition of  the artist’s work. Over the next decade, Morrisseau  developed his unique painting style termed the “Woodlands School” which was known for its vibrant colours, x-ray impressions, and flat forms separated by thick black lines.  His art influenced the work on numerous First Nation artists including Daphne Odjig, and Carl Ray.

Morrisseau was also known as Copper Thunderbird, a name he was given as a young man. “In Ojibway culture, the thunderbird acts as a go-between; in combination with “copper,” the name suggests that Morrisseau has the ability to unite opposing powers of underwater/underearth and above sky.” Morrisseau signed all of his works in Cree syllabics as Copper Thunderbird.

“Through the 1970s and ’80s, Morrisseau’s “eccentricities” – binge drinking and often a hand-to-mouth street existence – were the despair of his friends and buyers of his work who were uncertain of the authenticity of his paintings. The artist admitted in 2004 he had signed other artists’ work ‘if they needed the money.’”

The prevalence of forgeries, however, became a great concern to Morrisseau, especially in his later years, and he actively sought to remove these from the marketplace. In 2005 he established the Norval Morrisseau Heritage Society (NMHS). The Society’s mandate is to catalogue and verify authentic Morrisseau paintings.

Morrisseau received numerous awards and honours in his lifetime including the Order of Canada in 1978, member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, recipient of Doctor of Laws, and Doctor of Letters,  holder of the Eagle Feather (the highest honour awarded by the Assembly of First Nations), and Grand Shaman. As well, he was the only Canadian painter invited to exhibit in the Paris French Revolution bicentennial in 1989.

In the last years of his life, Morrisseau was unable to paint. Afflicted by Parkinson’s disease, Norval Morrisseau died on December 4, 2007 in Toronto General Hospital. He was buried in Northern Ontario next to the grave of his ex-wife Harriet, on Anishinaabe land.

Related Books:
Copper Thunderbird
Norval Morrisseau: Shaman Artist
Canadian Paintings, Prints and Drawings

Sources:Virtual Museum, Kinsman Robinson, McMichael Gallery, Cybermuse, Maslak McLeod Gallery, Wikipedia, Toronto Star

Related posts:

1. Norval Morrisseau: 1932-2007
2. National Aboriginal Day: Indian Group of Seven
3. Leszek Andrzej Kostuj: Painting