Ojibwe Art
And the Development of Native Art in Canada
For the time being my discussion of contemporary Canadian native art will tend to favour Ojibwe art... It's not because I'm playing favourites...honest! It's a logistics issue!
I want to start at the beginning and it's important to note that Canadian native art wasn't really on the radar screen until Norval Morrisseau showed up in Toronto in the 1960's.
Other native artists like Blackfoot painter Gerald Tailfeathers, Cree painters Allen Sapp and Alex Janvier and Daphne Odjig had been painting, too, but at the time they hadn't made the whole country sit up and take notice.
It was Morrisseau's success that gave birth to the concept of legend painters, but it was the formation of the Indian Professional Artist's Association a decade later that helped create Woodlands Art as an important new concept in the world of Canadian native art.
It wasn't that the organization itself did much, if anything, but individuals within the association inspired young people to consider art as a career. And given that it was Ojibwe artists that were sharing their skills, it's no surprise that it was young Ojibwe men and women who stepped up to the plate.
Some of the First Legend Painters
For example, on his return from his sold out first show in Toronto, Morrisseau began mentoring his two teenage brothers-in-law, Joachim and Goyce Kakegamic. The young men eventually opened their own screen printing business in Red Lake, Ontario to produce and market their own images and works by other new artists.
And when Daphne Odjig and Carl Ray taught at the Manitou Arts Foundation - a short lived summer school on Manitoulin Island - they, too, inspired a generation of young Ojibwe artists.
