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Indian Group of Seven
Influence
The Indian Group of Seven influence on the development of native art in Canada showed up first on Manitoulin Island, home to Daphne Odjig.
Inspired by the reception that the new woodlands artists were receiving in mainstream Canada, in 1966, Tom Peletier created the Manitou Arts Foundation. It was a summer school for Ojibwa youth held on Schreiber Island, with Daphne Odjig, Carl Ray and Gerald Dokis as resource people.
These Young People were the Second Generation of Woodland Artists
Among the students were Shirley Cheechoo, Randolph Trudeau, Blake Debassige, Leland Bell, and Martin Panamick. Except for Martin who died shortly after, the others went on to achieve reputations as Indian artists with their own unique visions and styles that still bear certain indications of their origin in Manitoulin's Manitou Arts program. Legends and traditional stories were what most often inspired the young painters, but they were also interested in nature painting, and cultural history.
These young artists later found mutual support and a cultural framework through the summer art programs organized by another organization called the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation, which continued the arts and culture programs of the shorter-lived Manitou Arts program.
In 1976 and 1977, the summer arts site chosen was Dreamer's Rock on the Birch Island Reserve of Manitoulin. The site had spiritual significance. In the past, young Anishinaabeg (that's what the Ojibwa people call themselves) had gone there on a vision quest to seek direction in their lives.
Unfortunately the area around Dreamer's Rock was heavily vandalized and trashed in 1974 by non-native residents of Manitoulin...perhaps in response to Native activism, both in the U.S. and Canada, concerning Native land, rights and sovereignty. At the time there was a good deal of hatred and "backlash" from many white people about this. The young people, sad and angry at the trashing, cleaned it up and then traditional elders re-consecrated the site. They smudged with sacred cedar and held sweat lodge purification ceremonies - the first time many of the young artists had been exposed to that part of their heritage.
Organizers of the summer school hoped that the choice of site might inspire the young people to develop their own individual artistic visions. The meetings indeed strengthened Indian ways and values - as seen in their paintings and drawings that celebrated old ceremonies and new dreams.
The Indian Group of Seven influence continues in the artworks of the children and grandchildren of many of the original Indian Group of Seven and their students.
- The new Woodland Art was a Style of Native Art with an Ancient and Enduring Tradition
Although the training, lifestyles and creative motivation of contemporary native artists differ profoundly from their ancient counterparts, today's Woodland Art is sourced by traditional artistic representations used by prehistoric Eastern Woodland Indians.
- The Woodlands School of Art Bridges Cultures
In ancient times art was used to bridge, reconcile, re-educate and re-orient fellow native groups, however hostile. Today the challenge is to bridge the gap between entirely different cultures - First Nations people and Euro-Americas.
- The Indian Group of Seven, Influence on Other Native Artists
As the younger generations try their hand at painting, many take the Morrisseau imagery for granted...not realizing that it didn't exist in the modern world until he brought them forth.
