1st Red Lake Woodland Arts Festival: A Tribute to Norval Morrisseau and the Woodland Artists starts TOMORROW!

July 4th-6th, 2008
-
Honouring Norman Knott (1945-2003)
-
-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

"Night Flyers", © Norman Knott

-

The Canadian Shield which in some areas of northern Ontario assumes the dimensions and conformations of mountains, in southeastern Ontario takes on another mood and softens into gently rolling hills where many shallow lakes are cradled before it submerges itself in the St. Lawrence River forming the Thousand Islands. Among these shining little lakes so formed, none is lovelier than Curve Lake situated just a few kilometers northwest of the city of Peterborough. The Curve Lake Indian Reserve along the eastern shore is the most southerly and eastern outpost of the Ojibwe Nation. The Curve Lake Reserve is considered by many to be the most integrated of all the reserves. Of its over five hundred band members, only two are known to have any knowledge of the Ojibwe language and that only sufficient to read the Bible in Ojibwe. It seems with time that traditions have grown dim like some half-remembered dream.

-

It was into this milieu that Norman Knott was born in 1945. He had an uneventful childhood and was happiest when engaged in some sport, the favourite being hockey. He had no particular interest in school and no training in art. He started to paint at the age of sixteen and did not consider it as a potential career but painted only in his spare time...

-

... Knott interprets ancient Ojibwe symbols in a personal way. He invents new ones and you have to know the meaning for complete understanding. For example, the centre circle (yellow) indicates the soul of the creature being portrayed. The outer circle represents the physical form. The seven rays emanating from each indicate that both the body and the soul have an effect on the surroundings. An eight-rayed circle with a red centre is important to meaning, for when it is used, it represents death or the cycle of physical life is complete. Knott uses grey outlines for objects and creatures to denote a spiritual existence that could be either past or future.

-

/Excerpts 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/

-

For more information about the Red Lake Woodland Arts Festival go to: www.redlakemuseum.com.

-

* The painting in this posting: "Night Flyers", © Norman Knott /Private Collection/