Red Lake Woodland Arts Festival: A Tribute to Norval Morrisseau and the Woodland Artists in 5 DAYS!

July 4th-6th, 2008
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Honouring Francis Kagige (b. 1929)
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"Nanabush", © Francis Kagige
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Francis Kagige, an Ojibwa artist, was born in 1929, at Wikwemikong Unceded First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. A self-trained artist, Kagige’s early work shows abstracted, stylized native symbols. Francis Kagige, like Daphne Odjig, is of the first generation of Manitoulin artists whose work, through individual vision (and influenced by the style of Norval Morrisseau) founded the Woodland or Legend painting style: hard-edged, concerned with the relationship of people to nature (often shown without any people in their pictures), and frequently depicting an impression that traditional stories have made on the artist.
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Francis Kagige's works are represented, among the others, in the following collections: Canadian Museum of Civilization, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Institute of Alaska Native Arts, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Royal Ontairio Museum and Thunder Bay Art Gallery.
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Notes: In 1964 the Federal Government of Canada appointed the Quebec author, Yves Theriault, as the first Director of Cultural Affairs for the Department of Indian Affairs. Theriault chose Tom Peltier, an Ojibwe writer from Wikwemikong, Manitoulin Island, as his chief assistant. This energetic team already had made their plans and the day Expo '67 was announced to the people of Canada, they received approval for the "Indians of Canada Pavilion". They called upon the assistance of Tom Hill, a Seneca from the Six Nations Reserve at Brantford, Ontario; Alex Janvier, a Chippewyan (Athapaskan) from Edmonton, Alberta; George Clutesi, a West Coast Native; Gerald Tailfeathers, a Blood Indian from Alberta and Jackson Beardy, a Cree from Manitoba, Further contributions were made by Norval Morrisseau, Carl Ray and Francis Kagige. The cast was complete for the first international show which is now a part of history. Some observers think that Expo '67 was the birth of a viable Native art movement in Canada. Tom Hill said, "We did not recognize it at the time, but it was a pinnacle experience. For the first time Native Canadian painters felt a sense of community in their common destiny and what is also important, the public recognized it too."
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/An excerpt from: "The Sound of the Drum: THE SACRED ART OF THE ANISHNABEC" by Mary E. (Beth) Southcott; Published by The Boston Mills Press; ISBN: 0-919822-64-9/
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For more information about the Red Lake Woodland Arts Festival go to: www.redlakemuseum.com.
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* The painting in this posting: "Nanabush", © Francis Kagige /An illustration for "The Adventures of Nanabush: Ojibway Indian Stories" by Doubleday Canada Limited, Toronto; ISBN: 0-385-14249-8/