 Maslak McLeod Gallery - Woodland Artists
Norval Morrisseau is frequently called the 'Father of the Woodland School of Art'. Who are the 'Woodland Artists'? What do they paint? What is the link that makes their style recognizable as 'Woodland Art'? Woodland Artists are indigenous to the area that circles the Great Lakes. Morrisseau's original conception of the Woodland style pinpoints the geography from which he worked - north of Thunderbay 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, Oneidan. Primarily The Woodland Artist was influenced by the design, style and content of Norval Morrisseau. There is however also a strong line of influence reaching out of the work of Benjamin Chee Chee. Had Chee Chee lived longer his highly delicate controlled line may have had even more influence. The School of Woodland Art painters - Morrisseau, Goyce and Josh Kagegamic, Carl Ray, Cobiness, Saul Williams, Roy Thomas and Benjamin Chee Chee worked out an artistic direction that moved this Native group of painters out of the category of Craft and into Fine Art. There is hardly a museum in Canada or the United States that does not have works by Woodland Artists as part of their museum catalogue. In 1963, the first professional exhibition of Woodland Art was opened in Toronto at the Jack Pollock Gallery. Since that time two generations of painters have evolved - Amoo Angeconeb, Shirley Chee Choo, Blake Debassige, Don Ningewance, Leland Bell and Carl Beam. These artists now exhibit nationally and internationally: Toronto, Sao Paulo, Munich, Santa Fe, Minneapolis. In January.2006 The National Gallery Of Canada will mount, for the first time, a one man exhibit for a Native Canadian Artist - Norval Morrisseau.
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