www.NorvalMorrisseauLawsuit.com (Part IV)

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Otavnik Vs Vadas SC 07-51428-00
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© 1969 Norval Morrisseau
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"Enclosed please find a copy of one of my families donations of art to various art galleries. This particular submission was the works of Norval Morrisseau which were acquired by the same source as the painting in question. They are from the same supplier and are similar to the painting(s) in question in style, form, content, composition etc. The donation has been made by the member of my family and receiving Institution - The Thunder Bay Art Gallery which is an accredited Class "A" Institution.
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The works' in question were viewed, inspected and approved by the Register, Gail Fikis, the gallery director Sharon Godwin, the head curator Mr. Glenn Allison and the Board of Directors of the Gallery. It was then fully vetted again by the Canadian Cultural Property Review Board staff and then full board members and approved."
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Joseph Otavnik
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- The below statement is from curator of The Thunder Bay Art Gallery regarding donated paintings:
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6. OUTSTANDING SIGNIFICANCE AND NATIONAL IMPORTANCE / INTERET EXCEPTIONNEL ET IMPORTANCE NATIONALE

The National Gallery of Canada recently pointed to the "archetypal status" of Norval Morrisseau as it assembled a touring exhibition that views his nearly fifty years of artistic production.
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Recognized as a brilliant innovator, Morrisseau inaugurated the style of painting, which has come to be called "Woodland", or "Legend" painting by transferring an idiom heretofore inherent in historical rock art and the birchbark Midewiwin scrolls and reinscribing it in western formats with a highly contemporary palette. In doing so, he founded a school of visual art, the predominant style of which persists in active, varied and vital production to this day.
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Morrisseau's work insinuates the vision and position of sacred shamanic practises in Anishnaabe culture, embodying a visual lexicon of spiritual creatures that is said to be a direct inheritance from his grandfather. Characterized by pictographic x-ray depictions, the style imparts the inter-connectivity of all life forms and their shared interiority. In its simplest forms, Morrisseau's approach infers to each viewer the unfolding of an entire cosmogony fully empowered with transformational possibility and the capacity for shared indwelling.
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One of the most widely collected and exhibited personalities of the entire Aboriginal Renaissance, Morrisseau continues to parallel, inspire and propel Aboriginal art in this country. As a result, his work also continues to call forth new research, increased analysis and collection.
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The pieces considered here are all modest in scale, all date from the decade of the seventies, and are fully characteristic. All are original paintings.
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Lake Trout With Eggs from 1973 recalls the artist's early monochromatic approaches. The Untitled work from 1979 includes a shaman figure among representative fish, bear, birds and reptile. The Untitled (Animal Spirits Facing Inward) 1970 is an important distillation, pointing to chthonic origins, and the Untitled (Fish with Minnows) is thought to have been an endearing gift for a child. Together these examples expand the repertoire of material that the Thunder Bay art Gallery can offer for research on this highly important national treasure.
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Glenn Allison, Curator
/The Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario/
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Source: www.NorvalMorrisseauLawsuit.com
----------/Additional Filings by the Plaintiff/
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- The paintings in this posting: "Untitled", 55"x19" ea., © 1969 Norval Morrisseau