Woodland Art
A Contemporary Style of Native Art with an Ancient but Enduring Tradition
Contemporary Canadian native artists have produced three major schools:
- Woodland Art,
- Inuit Art and
- West Coast Art.
All have been based on ancient traditions that, despite the persistent and pervasive forces of acculturation, have endured to the present day.
Although the training, lifestyles and creative motivation of contemporary native artists differ profoundly from their ancient counterparts, today's Woodland art is actually sourced by traditional artistic representations used by prehistoric Eastern Woodland Indians.
Three categories of imagery predominate
In ancient times three main categories of representational imagery (other than human) outweighed all the rest:
- The first was large carnivores - especially bears and large cats.
- The second was snakes.
- The third was birds - most often raptors, especially eagles and hawks.
Other subject matter from nature occurred but was relatively rare. Today the range of imagery is broader, but my point is that it isn't coincidence that in contemporary woodland art there are so many references to birds, large meat-eaters and snakes.
Images of transformation are commonplace
A second similarity common to contemporary and prehistoric traditions is the prevalence of images of transformation otherwise known as simultaneity.
That means, representations of a man or an animal being two life forms at the same time. For example, both Norval Morrisseau and Daphne Odjig did paintings they entitled Thunderbird Man.
Their human/bird imagery is powerfully suggestive of similar human/bird images carved into both copper and shell from pre-historic sites that date from 1000AD and 1400AD.
Humans frequently struggle with animals
A third common theme in pre-historic and contemporary woodland art is the portrayal of spiritual communication or even fighting between animals and human beings. Two good examples are contemporary works by Daphne Odjig and Carl Ray ... by coincidence, both entitled Conflict between Good and Evil...that show the common interpretation of the subject.
By the way...I'm trying to locate images of those two paintings and if you can help me out I'd much appreciate it. Use the contact link at the bottom of the page.
A form and its background may be one and the same
Imagery incised on prehistoric eastern woodland's pottery and shell gorgets often confused the observer when he tried to distinguish the relationship between a form and its background. This tendency to be imprecise in the definition of positive and negative space was so basic to the ancient traditions that it reflects the essence of the structures and classification systems of the culture.
Despite the forces of acculturization, similar ambiguities persist in modern Woodland Art.
The painting on the left I entitled "What's for Lunch?" which illustrates the interconnection between all life forms. A fish is eating a fish that's eating a loon that has eaten a fish, etc. If you look closely you might be able to count eight loons and five fish inside the fish on the left. Maybe I should have called it "A Fish Story".
But there are other, perhaps even more important connections between the prehistoric and the present day artistic traditions.
To understand the significance of today's imagery, compare the explosive emergence of Woodland Art within the mainstream of Canadian culture to the bursts of artistic and ritual activity developed in response to cultural crisis in pre-contact times.
Woodland Art has always had a profound impact on woodland culture.
Leave the world of woodland art and return to the home page or read on...
- The Woodlands School of Life...
- Woodlands School of Art and Cultural Revival
- In Canada it was Norval Morrisseau who lead the charge...
Long before Europeans arrived on the shores of North America, First Nations people, for one reason or another, faced cultural catastrophes...all out calamity. Interestingly, it was sometimes artistic creativity that rode to the rescue!
To understand the potential influence of contemporary Woodland Art, it's worthwhile noting that long before Europeans arrived on the shores of North America, First Nations people, for one reason or another, faced cultural catastrophes and it was often artistic activity that rode to the rescue!
By the mid-twentieth century in Canada Ojibwa society was in disarray. The Reserve system, the Christian churches and the residential school system had been working for years to eliminate traditional beliefs and social customs. Morrisseau fought back by defying the taboo of openly revealing the significance of the stories and symbolism of the shaman spiritual leaders.
