Nanabajou in Frog Skin
connected with the Worlds flood
- Norval Morrisseau -
Ink on paper, 22” x 30”, 1968
___________________
connected with the Worlds flood
- Norval Morrisseau -
Ink on paper, 22” x 30”, 1968
___________________
Published by Ritchie 'Stardreamer' Sinclair. This Blog is a record of posts published between 2009 and 2011, archived here for the record.
NORVAL
The last time I saw you, was the first time
Live, in person
The man
Live, in person
The Artist
Live, in person
The Icon
Live, in person
The Shaman
I walked through your exhibition at the NAG
I felt wrapped in an ancestor’s blanket
You Norval, the great one
You Norval, the innovator
You Norval, the astral traveller
You Norval, set the pace
Was there a race?
For the artworld to behold
To acknowledge the work of your ancestors told
To help the artworld and public understand
The medicine in your paint…is what is at hand
Ahhhhhhhh…look at his colourful work
OMG she faints…
…cuz the paint …
His paint…his paint!!!
Norval’s paint, pushing to and fro
You push the paint Norval with Shaman flair
With ease and grace…oh!! how you care
You pushed the paint across this land
You pushed the paint into the universe
The gallery was full of mind!
The gallery was full of spirit!
Multi hues and figures much
All there on the canvas, or brown paper, blue
All there on the birch bark too
Back to the old stories told
In the land where the ancestor roll
In the land where that spirit lives old
Colour so flash…across the canvas told
Stories of creation and how the people roll
The spirit beings and bears
Xray vision, oh so bare!
A movement you created through art
Grandfather of contemporary Aboriginal Art
You painted the canvas and the gallery beholds
Upon their white walls you showed
An ancient culture painted by a shaman on his ancient homeland
Stories of the land, sky and water too
Complex inter-celestial beings sat across from me to!
That Indian thang! of supernatural beings
Visit our people and bring
Teachings to us to share somehow
You choose the paint
As the paint must
Tell the words of old stories told
Tell the words of land and water as they hold
They hold our stories and ancestors too
Land and water beings all over this place
They connect us to above and below
Ahhhhhhhhhhh….to behold.
Paint the words of those underworlds
Paint the words of those aboveworlds
Paint the words of those supernatural beings
They harken to you to show their appeal
To show they are real
To show they bring gifts with them
For us to live in a certain way
Who will sway?
And listen to land.
Who will sway?
And listen to water.
Who will sway?
And listen to song bird sing.
I swayed so long ago and now I begin.
Turquoise blue you paint the sky
Turquoise blue the being crawled
Turquoise blue that healed so many
Uplift, uplift to the land of plenty?
The land of plenty? What is that?
Have we seen that upon our land?
What happened really? I want to know.
From the north to those ugly schools you go
I learned your story through books
I loved your work through books
I heard people talk about their Norval encounters
The stories that I only heard
Of a man named Copper Thunderbird
Of a man whom walked so gently
Of a man who painted endlessly
Of a man who shook the artworld
Of a man who showed them so
Some got it, what this man has shown
I am altered from how yo shone!!
Shine Norval shine in the land of peace
You!!! up there now…with all those…
Entities?
What shall I call all those worlds?
Swirling, twirling and swirling so
All around us… there you go
The man Norval who created soDana Claxton - 2007
"Merman the anchient (sic) half man and supernatural being who is the ruler of all the waters of the world in his protection and power to the individual, both by water and land, was a sought-after protector of the Ojibwa Indian shaman; for it is said that the merman own[s] the element of water in itself very powerfull (sic) to be channell (sic) to that power etc..."Norval Morrisseau
"The aboriginal-inspired mural by Star Dreamer (aka Ritchie Sinclair), consisting of 28 linked canvas panels, was created as the centre piece of the lst Toronto International Pow Wow at the Skydome in Toronto in l994. Ritchie occupies a unique place in the Canadian pantheon of artists as the Scottish - lineage protege of Ojibway shamanistic artist Norval Morrisseau. The mural depicts the native legends of the formation of North America , contrasted with Toronto's contemporary architecture, like the CN Tower." It is 20th century Canada's version of the native totem pole," says Ritchie. It includes a cameo contribution by fellow Morrisseau protege, native artist Brian Marion and remained on view at BCE Place to mid-April. "Artfocus MagazineSpring 1997
Note: The mural entitled, "The Meeting Place" and the painting above entitled, "The Offering" are amongst art that was stolen by Randy Potter Auctions of Port Hope colluding with Centron Self Storage of Toronto.
Stardreamer
Thank You people
The Blessing is free. We won't charge you
We don't generally do this in public.
I am a Grand Shaman. This is like when the bishop comes to his chuirch and gathers his priests to ordain.... the ones that he is going to ordain.
He's a Shaman...
Mind you this guy's a Bear and we are going to ordain the Bear as well.
Our people a long time ago... had these types of ceremonies that weren't too public.
And the reason why they did it... it was an earth renewal ceremony. Everything renews itself because we are too polluted. Everything that we breath. Everything that we eat. The only thing I guess that's not polluted yet is our Spiritual environment. But it is our duty to maintain and keep that environment intact... if we ever get it polluted.
So each individual person that views the ceremony can interpret it in his own way...to give him an idea
Its the same thing as a person who goes to see a picture inside the art gallery. It is nice to sell those pictures, but yet the real purpose is for someone to look at the paintings.
I don't know how many of you people ever have Technicolor dreams but in that Technicolor world that we have inside each one of us... every time you look at my pictures or the colors,... the colors especially... not the images...it brings out that Indianess in you...
For we are only here to bring out more Indianness.Norval Morrisseau1997 Beardance Ceremony at the McMichael Canadian Collection
Once I lived out in the country where I had to walk two miles to get to a telephone. So I was walking along feeling sorry for poor old Norval and I passed a turkey farm. There must have been over 3,000 turkeys on either side of the road kept back by fences.
As I walked by, I began to be aware of the sound of one turkey after another as I walked and they conversed. I thought of St. Francis and wondered if he really talked to the animals or was it the vibrations from this magnetic force within us.
The more I thought of that the more I forgot about anything else. I just had a chat that made me more aware that we are just a molecule within a molecule in the body of God. That allowed me to forget my own radiance and that's what I'm talking about. The thoughts just stop coming into your consciousness. That's what I mean about my painting coming from somewhere else.
I'm just as simple as anyone else - and maybe more so and there isn't anything that I can't do. Wherever your imagination goes your mind is sure to follow.
Norval Morrisseau1984
Great artists are seers who have the ability to reach both ahead and back in time while still maintaining relevance to an everchanging present. Norval Morrisseau was a supreme visionary whose legacy will endure forever.
Greg A. Hill