Robert Houle about Norval Morrisseau

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"Norval, like all innovators, had made a trajectory to contemporary cultural theory, an idea I was not to understand until quite recently. It situated Norval at the centre of a cultural transformation, contemporary Ojibwa art. This legendary artist had created a visual language whose lineage included the ancient shaman artists of the Midiwewin scrolls, the Agawa Bay rock paintings and the Peterborough petroglyphs. As a master narrator, he had a voice that thundered like the sentinel of a people still listening to the stories told since creation.”
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Robert Houle - is Saulteau, a Plains Ojibwa from Manitoba, born in St. Boniface in 1947. He received his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Manitoba in 1972 and a Bachelor of Education from McGill University in 1975. A former curator of contemporary Native art at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Houle has contributed significantly through his writing and curating to understanding of issues facing First Nations work in Canada.
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* Photograph of Robert Houle by Greg Staats, © 1998