About the Cover Artist

Considered among the first contemporary indigenous artists of Canada, Norval Morrisseau (1932—2007), also known as “Copper Thunderbird” and “Picasso of the North,” painted ancient myths and legends of the Anishinaabe First Nations people of Eastern Canadian. He founded the Woodlands style and is heralded as “the key figure at the center of an indigenous art movement in Canada” by the National Chief of Assembly of First Nations.

In 1938, the young Mr. Morrisseau was sent to a residential school, a system set up by the Canadian government in the 1880s that operated until the last decades of the twentieth century. Here, like all the students, he was forbidden to acknowledge his culture or speak his traditional language and faced other abuse as well. After 4 years, he returned to living with his grandparents and began drawing the legends of his people, although this was discouraged because this lore was traditionally not meant to be shared publicly.

As a young adult, he was encouraged to continue painting by Dr. Joseph Weinstein, a physician who had trained as an artist in Paris. Dr. Weinstein also provided him with art supplies. In the 1960s, Mr. Morrisseau’s exhibitions were the first showings of any indigenous art in contemporary Canadian art galleries; these were met with wide acclaim. He inspired a generation of artists, and unfortunately also suffered from art fraud with many paintings in his style sold as his works. He actively fought against this fraud during his lifetime. This is documented in the film, “There Are No Fakes.”

In the 1990s, Morrisseau was diagnosed with Parkinson disease (PD). Although analysis shows his artwork changed in this period, he is quoted as saying, “when I paint, my hands don’t shake.” Mr. Morrisseau continued painting for as long as he was able before he died from complications of PD in 2007.

Permission to reproduce We Conjure Our Own Spirit granted by the copyright owner www.officialmorrisseau.com, who verified its authenticity as a work of Mr. Morrisseau and the estate of Mr. Norval Morrisseau.