Norval Morrisseau

Norval Morrisseau (March 14, 1932 – December 4, 2007), also known as Copper Thunderbird, was an Indigenous Canadian artist from the Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation. He is widely regarded as the grandfather of contemporary Indigenous art in Canada. Known as the "Picasso of the North," Morrisseau created works depicting the legends of his people, the cultural and political tensions between native Canadian and European traditions, his existential struggles, and his deep spirituality and mysticism. His style is characterized by thick black outlines and bright colors. He founded the Woodlands School of Canadian art and was a prominent member of the "Indian Group of Seven."

Thunder Bay connections

Norval Morrisseau (March 14, 1932 – December 4, 2007) was an Indigenous Canadian artist born on the Sand Point Ojibwe reserve near Beardmore, Ontario. As a child of six he was sent to St. Joseph's Indian Residential School in Fort William, before returning home and attending a local community school in Beardmore. In 1956 he contracted tuberculosis and was sent to the Fort William Sanatorium to recover, where he met his future wife Harriet Kakegamic, with whom he had seven children, Victoria, Michael, Peter, David, Lisa, Eugene, and Christian. He spent his youth in remote northern Ontario near Thunder Bay, where his "Woodland" artistic style developed, and his retrospective exhibition was held at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery in connection with artist Susan Ross, whom he had met in 1961.

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Newspaper record

• Biographical notice in The Chronicle-Journal, 1983-05-10.
  • Index note: Art depicts dreams.
• Biographical notice in The Chronicle-Journal, 1987-05-11.
  • Index note: Portrait of a giant.
• Biographical notice in The Chronicle-Journal, 1987-05-12.
  • Index note: What's all the fuss about?
• Biographical notice in The Chronicle-Journal, 1987-09-22.
  • Index note: Ready to paint again.
• News notice in The Chronicle-Journal, 2005-02-24.
  • Age recorded as 73 years.
  • Index note: bio on CBC TV.
• News notice in The Chronicle-Journal, 2008-07-03.
  • Index note: Red Lake art festival.

In Papers and Records (1997)

A 1975 Canadian Archaeological Association symposium on intuitive archaeology held in Thunder Bay included Morrisseau and the Ojibwa medicine man David Charles.

In Anishinabek News

• Home community: Ojibwe
• March 2018: Born in 1932, he was a self-taught artist who created thousands of images based on traditional insights and ancestral knowledge. He documented his visions on materials ranging from the sand of Lake Nipigon to birch bark, moose hide, and canvas. He aimed to restore cultural pride and spiritual awareness to the Anishinaabe people through his use of vibrant healing colours. He died in 2007.