{"id":48305,"date":"2024-05-16T19:01:51","date_gmt":"2024-05-16T19:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/?post_type=cu_story&p=48305"},"modified":"2024-12-15T16:09:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T21:09:00","slug":"norval-morrisseau-reviving-legacy-through-storylines","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/fass\/story\/norval-morrisseau-reviving-legacy-through-storylines\/","title":{"rendered":"Norval Morrisseau: Reviving Legacy Through Storylines<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Norval Morrisseau: Reviving Legacy Through Storylines<\/i>\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

A Digital Journey into the Life of the Iconic Indigenous Artist<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Ally Lemieux-Fanset<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1983, Carmen Robertson walked into a Calgary exhibition and encountered an artist who would inspire decades of her research \u2013 Norval Morrisseau. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019d heard his name, but I didn’t know his work. I was just blown away by that colour and energy,\u201d she says.

Morrisseau was one of the first Indigenous artists to show in mainstream Canadian galleries in the 1960s and founded the Woodlands style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Research
Co-curators of Norval Morrisseau: Medicine Currents, Danielle Printup and Dr. Carmen Robertson, seated in front of (left to right) Morrisseau\u2019s \u2018Shaman Astral Guide I\u2019 (1978), \u2018Shaman Astral Guide II\u2019 (1978), and \u2018Shaman with Medicine Turtle\u2019 (c. 1985) at the Carleton University Art Gallery. This exhibition explores and celebrates Anishinaabe artist Norval Morrisseau\u2019s rich storytelling vocabulary through paintings, drawings, and objects.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
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He opened so many doors for artists not long after that, Robertson explains. Many people call him the mishoomis<\/em> \u2014 the grandfather \u2014 of contemporary Indigenous art.<\/p>Dr. Carmen Robertson<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Now a Canada Research Chair<\/a> at Carleton, Robertson<\/a> leads the Morrisseau Project: 1955-1985<\/a><\/em>. After twenty years spent researching his legacy<\/a>, she\u2019s launching Norval Morrisseau: Storylines<\/a><\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The website, presented by the MacKenzie Art Gallery<\/a> and funded by Heritage Canada, launched on May 15. It\u2019s the first detailed account of Morrisseau’s legacy, bringing his work to new audiences with contributions from experts and Indigenous knowledge keepers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Text
A screenshot from the Morriseau Storylines website which offers insight into many of the key moments of the artist\u2019s life.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Through interactive features, users can discover how one of the most prolific Indigenous painters created a unique language to articulate his connection to the world around him. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Nothing like this really exists anywhere for an artist in Canada, Robertson says. It’s really important to make sure his legacy resonates not just in Canada, but worldwide. Because his art and his creation of a visual language is so important, but it\u2019s been misunderstood.   <\/p>Dr. Carmen Robertson<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Divided into six modules, Storylines<\/a><\/em> connects the stories behind Morrisseau\u2019s life through innovative web design, allowing users to see the links between his body of work. According to the Digital designer and Carleton student Emily Vil\u00e9, breaking the flow of a traditional website was critical to making Morrisseau\u2019s stories accessible to all audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnishinaabe and Indigenous methods of curation are not necessarily focused on telling linear stories. There would be a lot more connections and be more free-flowing,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don’t think everyone knows about his life, his paintings, and how and what influenced him to produce these major artworks that are hanging in the National Gallery<\/a>. And the progress that he made to get there is often overlooked.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bringing Language to Life<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The website integrates Morrisseau\u2019s visual language alongside the written and spoken. But Art Designer Jay Odjick<\/a> from Kitigan Zibi, says it was important to bring the artist\u2019s spirit of ingenuity into the website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He created an interactive birch-bark map of Turtle Island<\/a> that tracks important locations for Morrisseau across the continent. Odjick imagined how Indigenous peoples would draw the landmass pre-contact, picking out materials and looking at the continent from a different perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n

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That really speaks to Morrisseau as an artist. It just gives this thing a different feel from anything we’ve seen before, which I think was what Morrisseau did. Give things a different feel, he says. <\/p>Jay Odjick<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Odjick is an Algonquin Anishinaabe writer, comic artist and television artist. He produced one of the first Algonquin superhero comic series, Kagagi<\/a><\/em>, and adapted it for television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"several
A page of the graphic novel KAGAGI: The Raven. Written by Jay Odjick, illustrated by Fernando Granea.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInitially, I felt like maybe this wasn’t something I was well suited for, coming not from a fine arts background, but from a guy who draws comic books,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After speaking with Robertson, Odjick explains he felt an organic connection with the artist\u2019s story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore he was a painter, he used to work in mines and down into mines, a lot of the time they had nothing to do,\u201d Odjick says. \u201cSo, these guys would bring comic books and kind of trade and read them. And that influenced his art style.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs it not the most amazing thing ever, that the most prolific Indigenous painter of all time pulled some of his influence from American comic books? That’s such a brave ideology to say, \u2018Yeah, I’m gonna take this stuff because I love it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storylines<\/em> looks beyond Morrisseau\u2019s visual language and explores his role in language revitalization as a fluent Anishinaabemowin speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The artist was a traditional storyteller, explains York University professor Alan Corbiere<\/a>, who recorded a conversation with Morrisseau in his hometown of M\u2019Chigeeng First Nation in the 1990s. Corbiere says he wanted to understand how artists fluent in Ojibwe talked about their work and \u201cexpand the realm where language is spoken.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was reading one of these art curatorial essays and there were a lot of words like \u2018postmodern\u2019, and \u2018curvilinear,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cWe’re bypassing this whole art discourse in Ojibwe for a whole art discourse in English. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Alan Corbiere at the Royal Ontario Museum in the vault.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the time of the interview, Morrisseau was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Corbiere remembers how the artist\u2019s hand shook as they spoke, until he picked up his brush and began to paint. That tape was lost over the years, but Corbiere recorded a new talk about Morrisseau\u2019s work all in Anishinaabemowin with Saul Williams, an artist who was inspired to create in his teens following a fateful workshop with Morrisseau. That recording is featured on Storylines<\/em>, translated and transcribed in syllabics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we get a number of these down, transcribe them and translate them, then we will be able to start to do discourse analysis. And second language learners like myself could then use those to talk about that subject area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Alan Corbiere and Dr. Robertson viewing a work of art by Morrisseau as part of the Storylines Project filming.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bringing His Work to New Audiences<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Dr.
Dr. Michelle McGeough<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One section, Love (Medicine)<\/em>, highlights pieces often described as \u201cerotic.\u201d Michelle McGeough<\/a>, a Cree M\u00e9tis professor at Concordia, developed the section  included in Storylines<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For nearly twenty-five years, she\u2019s studied Morrisseau\u2019s pieces that probe into gender and sexuality. The artist rejected most labels, she explains, but is often identified as queer or two-spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n

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It\u2019s important for younger people trying to find examples of individuals who identified like they do, to see themselves in these works, she says. It’s important for us as Indigenous people to reclaim our worldviews. Sexuality and the expression of our sexual being is only one aspect, but it is an important aspect.<\/p>Dr. Michelle McGeough<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Yet, McGeough says art institutions often \u201cdon\u2019t show the work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf they do have these types of work in their collection, these are usually the first works that they will try to deaccession and so they go into private collections,\u201d she says. \u201cOnce they enter into private collections the public never has access to that. Only the collector does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MacKenzie Art Gallery, located in Regina, SK, is the presenting institution, building on their recent exhibition of Morrisseau\u2019s work and long history promoting Indigenous-focused programming and exploring innovative models for digital art presentation. Many Carleton University faculty members and students also supported Robertson\u2019s initiative with their contributions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Morrisseau Estate provided critical input for Storylines<\/em>, according to Robertson. The project’s modules are voiced by Morrisseau\u2019s son Eugene Morrisseau<\/a> and great-grandson Logan Fiddler. Robertson says it was important to ensure Morrisseau\u2019s voice was present throughout the website, which features over 150 of his works.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Often people see his work as narrowly defined. And that’s not Morrisseau at all. But it’s been very hard to access the range of his art, she says. So this is the first time that people have an opportunity to really see that online in ways they haven’t had access to before.<\/p>Dr. Carmen Robertson<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\"A
The places on Turtle Island that Morrisseau lived\/created as presented on the Road Travelled section of the Morrisseau Storylines website.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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