Norval Morrisseau's Magical, Mystical Tour - A Legacy in Pictures

In making this little video I could only select a handful of my favourites. There are many other paintings that I favour as well. Most I have never seen photographed.

For all his insight and intelligence Norval Morrisseau was an innocent. For all his bravado and muster, he practiced sweet humility. This wonderful being treated me like a son, and a friend and a brother. I miss him tremendously and find myself appreciating our time shared more now that he has traveled on.

All souls are irreplaceable yet he somehow feels more so. Life is short. To meet another with this man's depth of character and vision is beyond my imagination. He was one of a kind. This short video is a tribute and a testament to Norval Morrisseau. Herein is the authentic Legacy he left behind. Enjoy, and strive to "Just Be".

Stardreamer

Heritage (1987) by Norval Morrisseau - Los Angeles Exhibition (1987) news article

Heritage

Norval Morrisseau

1987

Spirit is rising everywhere". I heard and saw it yesterday for myself. First it unexpectedly emerged from the shadows of a walkway in the core like a lone prophet in the shadows. Next came the common man on the street, he too spoke the word. Then the purveyors of the finest arts, it was everywhere, all talking and spreading the words of wisdom. The prophet, or the preacher, maybe he was a protege spoke of the future to come, the clarity has arrived, the vision clear.

Anonymous Comment

May 23, 2010

http://rainbowthunderbird.blogspot.com/

Homage to Morrisseau (1979) Saul Williams

Homage to Morrisseau

Saul Williams

c.1979, Acrylic on canvas board, 59 x 50 cm

"Norval Morrisseau and the Emergence of the Image Makers"

at the Art Gallery of Ontario (1984) Book Cover

To Woodland Artists he has always advised that, "whatever the circumstances life presents, 'Just Paint' and know that all is well". To those that do not paint, he suggests, 'Just Be' and know that 'All is Well'.

Stardreamer

Woodland Gold - Scroll Seven

...recalling Norval Morrisseau's directives.

Teach your children well - $7 to $10 Million in Canadian art including Norval Morrisseau paintings and prints unveiled by the Toronto District School Board

Authentic Education is Vital

This cache of artwork unveiled by the Toronto District School Board gives us an indication of the significance of Canadian art, specifically Morrisseau's art and the Group of Seven.

250,000 Ontarian students have an opportunity to understand the Spirit and Soul of their environment to get a sense of who they are in essence. i.e. a part of it.

Paintings from famed Canadian artists like the Group of Seven, Tom Thomson, Emily Carr, Norval Morrisseau and Robert Bateman.... School board's $10M art hoard to see daylight CBC News

It features paintings by Robert Bateman, Norval Morrisseau, and a Tom Thompson painting valued at a cool $1.5 million. TDSB Unveils Secret Art Stash CityNews

... as well those by other renowned Canadian artists like Norval Morrisseau....
School board unveils treasured art and artifacts CBC.ca

This is the $7 million room where the Group of Sevens, the Emily Carrs and the Norval Morrisseau are kept hanging on sliding metal racks... Toronto Board of Ed's Secret Art Stash NOW Magazine

“It includes art by Tom Thomson, members of the Group of Seven, Norval Morrisseau and many other significant Ontario artists. Kids to be schooled in fine art Toronto Sun

Authentic Norval Morrisseau Art Education
is an imperative.

The Mermaid (1968) - Mother Earth )1969) Norval Morrisseau

The Merman

Norval Morrisseau

Gouache on paper - 78” x 32” - 1968

"This is where your importance comes in" he explained: "The more you can express in your writing and painting the strongest and oldest Indian beliefs the more likely it is that they will be picked up by the non-Indians and become a part of our Canadian Heritage. But if, in your honest attempt to build a bridge between your people and other Canadians you say - as your mermaid painting with the breasts says - "Look our beliefs are just like yours" - you will only convince the non-Indian that the Ojibway people have little that is new, or strong, or different, to offer the rest of the World".

Selwyn Dewdney

1961 - prior to Morrisseau's breakout show.

Mother Earth

Norval Morrisseau
Gouache on cardboard, 32” x 55”, 1969

One day maybe if there's another Centennial I wouldn't like the white man to say he can trace himself right back to the cave days, but what's the Indian got, nothing! They're going to say what the white man writes about him. It's not good. Even if they never mention my name, you can't stop progress. I laid the first cornerstone already, whether I'm a drunkard or not, sober or whatever kind of person I am. I led that thing. That's for the betterment of our people in the future, not today.

Norval Morrisseau

1967 - Speaking about Expo 67 and his massive mural on the Indians of Canada pavilion. Norval asked Carl Ray to finish it because the Canadian government interfered, nixing the breasts on Mother Earth, resulting in headlines across Canada which read, "Pavilion Rebukes White Man, Indians' Theme Angers Expo Visitors".

What was with Dewdney and the Canadian Government? Does modern society have a conflict with sexuality and spirituality? Norval thought we had been indoctrinated into powerlessness. I have never viewed a "Norval" Morrisseau painting that I consider profane, have you? From my perspective Norval set a courageous example with both his life and his work. The two streams of energy are not in conflict, except in the mind of man. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I'm proud of Norval for listening to the fearmongers and then "not" doing what they asked.

Copper Thunderbird - The Silver Curse (1969) Norval Morrisseau

The Silver Curse

Norval Morrisseau

1969

Norval and I come from Thunder Bay, Ontario. The "Bay" is actually formed by a natural rock peninsula in the shape of a giant sleeping person that juts out into Lake Superior. To the Anishnaabe the Sleeping Giant is Nanabijou, the legendary "Spirit of the Deep Sea Water" who out of love for the Ojibway gifted them with the location of the North's richest silver mine. Using their silver the Ojibway created beautiful ornaments and tools that made the people wealthy. Nanabijou told them to never reveal the location of the mine or Nanabijou himself would be turned to stone. As the story goes one night the secret was disclosed and the intruders along with those who revealed the secret were drowned in a fierce storm. When the storm finally ended Nanabijou had turned to stone and the "Sleeping Giant" we see today was left behind.

Hiding 15 miles behind the Sleeping Giant is the second largest island archipelago on the Great Lakes. Now it is called "Isle Royale". Before that it was known as "Copper Island". To the Ojibway it is "Minong" meaning, "a good place to live". Scientists have been exploring multiple, massive "native (pure) copper" mines on Ojibway land there. They have dated wood foundations in the mines to six thousand years ago. According to Morrisseau the Ojibway have been there for at least 12,000 years. In this place where trout, whitefish, sturgeon, herring, suckers, pike, woodland caribou, beaver and loons were plentiful was the world's richest treasury of pure copper. It was also the Island paradise of a shamanic brotherhood called the Midewiwin or Grand Medicine Society who organized to share and protect the medicinal and magical knowledge of the Anishnaabe.

I believe that the Nanabijou legend of the Sleeping Giant tells an insignificant story of secret silver mines in order to better hide the greater secrets of Copper Island.

The Sleeping Giant of Lake Kitchi-Gummi

Foreground, pure "native" copper from Copper Island

Copper Nugget weighing 5,720 pounds found at a depth of 16 1/2 feet

 in a pit dug by prehistoric Indians on Copper Island.

Notice multiple hammer marks.

The copper found around Lake Superior was the purest and most important copper found in the world and was exported to the Mexican Toltecs and civilisations further south.

Ojibway legends describe the mines as being worked by “light skinned men”, who were able to identify the mines by throwing magical stones on the ground, which made the ores that contained copper ring like a bell.

A 30 cm copper statue discovered in 1660 by a missionary, Allouez, depicts a man with a beard – the native Indians do not have beards. The Anishinaabe chiefs kept special o-za-wa-bik (copper medallions) in sacred Mide bundles that were handed down from generation to generation. Each time it was handed down a new notch was carved. “In this way records were kept of the generations of Ojibwe.

In the case of Lake Superior, powerful mythic underwater creatures or manitous were believed to control copper and other resources, including animals used for food, good weather for fishing, etc., which were dispensed or held back depending on immediate circumstances, those being the negotiated terms of exchange with humans. Power was also believed to reside in copper itself, according to the Ojibwa. Copper was powerful medicine that brought wealth, health and well-being

Copper Thunderbird, Grand Shaman of the Mide, loved to wear copper ornaments and bracelets and would often speak of copper's special healing properties. He understood its significance as he was one of a long line of guardians who have succeeded in preserving 60,000 years of human pre-history. Once every seven generations a Grand Shaman is born to reinvigorate the lineage, regenerate the people, renew the environment and record the sacred scrolls. The last Grand Shaman was Badasan who in 1825 passed on his scrolls stretched out on 17 feet of birchbark.

In 2007 Norval Morrisseau passed on a legacy of thousands of shamanistic images. To all of us he left the task of understanding his visions as magical blueprints and tools provided to guide and assist humanity in completing the circle and finding our way home.

Stardreamer

Just for fun - (1980) - Norval Morrisseau to Ritchie Sinclair - Mountain Goat Communicators

Norval Morrisseau

1980

Just for fun...I went for an adventure to the West coast in the Summer of 1980 and came back with a writing/drawing book that I showed Norval. He scribbled this picture in it on Sept. 20 1980 while I told him of my adventures. In those days I was the one always tripping out West because I was in Love with a girl from the Yukon. Of course, Norval said that he already knew what I was up to because he had been astrally speaking with me, thus the communication lines between the goats. In picturing goats "Norvy" was playing with the fact that I was born a Capricorn.

Ritchie Sinclair

Norval Morrisseau Shaman Artist (2006) Greg A. Hill

NORVAL MORRISSEAU SHAMAN ARTIST

Greg A. Hill - National Gallery of Canada

11" x 9" Soft Cover 188 pages

The complete background to Norval Morrisseau's art and his influence on Native American Art. Lavishly illustrated and with essays on the subject by Ruth B. Phillips & Armand Garnet Ruffo. This book has been prepared by the National Gallery of Canada to accompany the 2006 Norval Morrisseau retrospective.

French Edition

Documents the nearly sixty works in this exhibition. which reflect and elaborate on the spiritual aspects of Morrisseau's art. Greg hill provides an enlightening account of how Morrisseau's shamanistic practice and spiritual journey have shaped his art. Ruth Phillips offers a thoughtful analysis of the conditions in which this artist emerged as a major figure in Canadian art. Armand Ruffo provides an evocative description of Morrisseau's life and work that blends insight and biography from an Anishnaabe perspective. This exhibition marks the first time the National Gallery of Canada has had the privilege to present a solo exhibition by a First Nations artist.

Pierre Theberge
Director
National Gallery of Canada

Norval Morrisseau (1978) Artist with Spirit Self

Artist with Spirit Self

Norval Morrisseau

1978

Not until the mid-1970's was Morrisseau able to come to terms with his anger and erratic behaviour. At this time he became a disciple of Eckankar, a religious movement which espouses a concept of soul travel and universality more compatible, in his view, with traditional Ojibwa beliefs. This led to a broader approach to spiritual issues in his work and coincided with an exploration of multi-panel painting.

AGO Exhibition Review

Norval Morrisseau and the Emergence of the Image Makers

1984-1985 

In Honour to our Grandchildren (1994) Promoting the 2010 exhibition of Norval Morrisseau Art at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.

Norval Morrisseau: From the Permanent Collection - The Thunder Bay Art Gallery - June 4 through September 5, 2010.

In Honour to our Grandchildren

Norval Morrisseau

1994, acrylic on canvas, 121 x 121 cm

purchased with the support of the
Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance Program.

For more information about the upcoming Norval Morrisseau exhibition view the Thunder Bay Art Gallery website or phone: 807-577-6427 - E-mail: info@theag.ca

Postal: P.O. Box 10193

1080 Keewatin Street
Thunder Bay, Ontario, CANADA P7B 6T7.

Read an article and view a before-&-after comparison of the Thunder Bay Art Gallery promotions for this exhibition.

"A Separate Reality" (1984) Norval Morriseau

"So if I am here in this World to deliver any messages I wouldn't want to be a preacher...I would want to be a painter!"

Norval Morrisseau

1981

"A Separate Reality"

Norval Morrisseau

1984 - Acrylic on canvas, approx. 10' x 21'

In this 1981 video Norval Morrisseau interprets symbology from the magnificent mural, "A Separate Reality", which is permanently displayed in the Museum of Civilization in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

I had the privilege of assisting Norval in creating the background to this painting. It was very unusual to get a 10 foot high roll of canvass, so this painting was always special. This roll was picked up in the States by Paul Gwartzman (of Gwartzman's Art Supplies, Toronto). Paul was always looking for something special for Norval. They appreciated each other for decades as "professionals".

To paint the wash background we laid out the canvass on the grass outside Norval's Buckhorn studio/farmhouse/bat cave (another story). Norval directed action on a blistering hot summer's day from the second floor balcony while I used two feet, two hands, large brushes and tons of paint to create the Astral Universe. Acrylic paint is mud. It doesn't go far. If diluted it loses its pigmentation. Its better to get it in there, let it stain the canvass, and get rid of the excess. It was great fun. By the time Norval was happy with it the background was heavy laden in paint.

We left if outside for a week or more to dry..., through rain, wind and storm, ...until the next blistering hot day dried it out, leaving what still shines through today.

Ritchie Sinclair

The Dreamer (1999) Norval Morrisseau

Norval Morrisseau claims that the door to the astral plane is always wide open
... if you know what to look for...

The Dreamer

Norval Morrisseau

1999 - 76" x 63"

"Its just like walking through that door there", he says pointing. "We all have the potential to bring it down if you throw away the mundane garbage that life piles up on you. If you don't have the mental garbage you can walk right through that door because it's wide open."

Norval Morrisseau

1984

The Beardmore Relics and Norval Morrisseau - Beardmore, Ontario.

The Beardmore Relics are a cache of Viking Age artifacts, said to have been unearthed near Beardmore, Ontario, Canada, in the 1930s. The cache consists of a Viking Age sword, an axe head, and a bar of undetermined use (possibly a part of a shield). It has been claimed by some that the relics are proof of the early Norse occupation in northern Ontario. While the authenticity of the fragments is not generally disputed, the discovery is generally considered to be a hoax. In the 1930s, the Royal Ontario Museum purchased the relics from the man who supposedly unearthed them. For about twenty years they were prominently displayed by the museum; however, the museum was forced to pull the relics from display following a public inquiry in about 1956–1957. About this time, the son of the supposed discoverer admitted that his father had planted the relics. The provincial museum quietly re-introduced the relics to public display in the 1990s.

Edmund Carpenter

 
 
Photo of Norval Morrisseau in Beardmore
Copyright Terry Lusty

Bear Walker - Norval Morrisseau - 1975

Bear Walker

Norval Morrisseau

1975

"The Ojibways have great respect for the Bear. According to their legends, in the distant past the Bear had a human form and was in fact an ancestor of the Ojibways. Therefore he understands the Indian language and will never attack or fight any Indian if he is addressed properly."

Norval Morrisseau

Shaman's Apprentice (1980) - Shaman's Apprentice Visionary (1981) by Norval Morrisseau

Shaman's Apprentice Visionary

Print Version (1981) 22" x 30" - from the original painting - 8' x 5' (1980)

Norval Morrisseau

The authentic Morrisseau painting is entitled, “Shaman’s Apprentice”. This portrait was painted by Morrisseau to honour Stardreamer who painted the blue background wash on the original that Norval filled with Stars and Thunderbirds.

My so-called Indian followers haven't reached a stage yet where they know what colour is. They think its nice to see Norval putting on colour but do they know what those colours mean?

One day you go up into a separate reality and you see what sickness is. Its a mental disease that makes us forget what the hell we really are - that's the sickness that has happened. There is a big crystal that is the most modern medicine - a circle of colours that directs a different colour to each spot of disease.

Norval Morrisseau
1984 NOW magazine

View a comparison of this painting with one created by someone who used the poster as a guide.

The painting itself is approximately 8ft x 5ft. It was painted in 1980 and then printed by Albert Volpe of Alvo Art in 1981 on approx. 22" x 30" heavy gauge hand-made rag paper using a revolutionary printing technique. The limited edition print is entitled,“Shaman’s Apprentice Visionary”.

The prints from this collection and the original paintings from this period ended up, for the most part, in Europe.

A poster promoting the “Sylvan Image Collection” at Ontario Place in Toronto from May 10 to June 2, 1984, was published soon after his major group Exhibition, "Norval Morrisseau and the Emergence of the Image Makers" was held at the Art Gallery of Ontario.