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Location
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Newnham - Building D - Level 2 - Left of D2000 (Currently stored in Building E - Level 1 - E1401)
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Title
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The Great Copper Thunder Bird
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Artist's Statement
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“I speak as one son, an artist, and an Ojibwe. I am a born artist. This is not by accident. I work with and out of Anishnabe myths that have become the mark of the Woodland School of Art. I have had to contend with the terrible strength of my father’s vision. I am not alone. Such was his ability, that there is hardly a Native artist who does not learn from Norval’s artistic strength. My father taught by being. He never gave lessons. Art to him was waking in the morning. Art was revelation of the Ojibwe history. Art was getting ready for bed. I didn’t name it. I just knew it. I lived Norval Morrisseau’s art. My brother David and I sit solidly within the scope of Woodland Art – yet we are seen as different and alone.”
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Christian Morrisseau
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Description
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Copper Thunderbird ᐅᓵᐚᐱᐦᑯᐱᓀᐦᓯ is painted with reds, yellows, blues, purples and greens. The image of the bird seems linked to the sky and the earth. Christian Morrisseau seems to be tying the natural world, the spiritual world, and the (Ozaawaabiko-binesi) is the Indigenous name of Norval Morrisseau, Christian Morrisseau’s father. According to Anishinaabe tradition, the thunderbird is a very powerful spirit being. The imagery is painted in the Woodlands style with X-ray images and bright colours. The bird’s head is black, but its feathers and body are painted with reds, yellows, blues, purples and greens. The bird is large in the picture and seems linked to the sky and the earth. Christian Morrisseau seems to be tying the natural world, the spiritual world, and the heritage of his father together in one image.
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Provenance
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Purchase made possible through the generosity of The First Peoples @ Seneca.
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Inscription
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Signed right, in syllabics
