Woodland School

Woodland Artists are indigenous to the area that circles the Great Lakes. Norval Morrisseau's original conception of the Woodland style pinpoints the geography from which he worked— north of Thunder Bay in Ontario, Canada. Yet, his work and his influence circled down, into and through the United States, to meet the influence of the Six Nations Artists—Iroquois, Mohawk, Senecan, Cayugan, Onadogan, and Oneidan.

Primarily, the inspiration for Woodland art stems from the design, style and content of Norval Morrisseau’s work. There is also a strong line of influence extending from the work of Benjamin Chee Chee. Had Chee Chee lived longer his highly delicate controlled line may have had even more influence.

The painters of the Woodland School of Art, Morrisseau, Goyce and Josh Kagegamic, Carl Ray, Cobiness, Saul Williams, Roy Thomas and Benjamin Chee Chee worked out an artistic direction that moved this Aboriginal group of painters out of the category of ‘craft’ and into Fine Art. A great many museums in Canada and the United States now have art works by Woodland Artists as part of their permanent collection.

Please explore our selected prints section to see multiples by several of the Woodland School artists featured in this section.