NORVAL MORRISSEAU FOR CHILDREN: SEVEN GIFTS FROM SEVEN GRANDFATHERS

Saturday, November 16, 2013

SEVEN GIFTS FROM SEVEN GRANDFATHERS

NORVAL MORRISSEAU (1931-2007)
"We Are All One in Spirit"-

SEVEN GIFTS FROM SEVEN GRANDFATHERS
The Anishnaabe Teachings cited from the Mishomis Book

1. To cherish knowledge is to know wisdom.
2. To know love is to know peace.
3. To honor all creation is to have respect.
4. Bravery is to face the foe with grace.
5. Honesty in facing a situation is to be honorable.
6. Humility is to know yourself as a sacred part of creation.
7. Truth is to know all of these things.

- Each person must find the delicate balance that lies in living in harmony with all creation.

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* The painting in this post: "Young Ojibway Indian Man with Eagle Headdress", 52"x28", © 1992 Norval Morrisseau; Provenance: Leona Lattimer Gallery, Vancouver BC, acquired directly from artist /Private Collection/

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Norval Morrisseau Quotes:

"My art speaks and will continue to speak, transcending barriers of nationality, language and other forces that may be divisive, fortifying the greatness of the spirit that has always been the foundation of the Ojibwa people."

"These paintings only remind you that you're an Indian. Inside somewhere, we're all Indians. So now when I befriend you, I'm trying to get the best Indian, bring out the Indianness in you to make you think everything is sacred."

"I want my work to be cornerstone for Indian art, to provide something that will last."

“Among the Indians, as among other nations, some people are born artists, but most are not. I am a born artist. I have as much interest in my people as any anthropologist, and I have studied our culture and lore. My aim is to reassemble the pieces of a once proud culture, and to show the dignity and bravery of my people.”

"My people believe the earth to be their mother and that we are children of the earth. In spirit we are one with our environment."

"Now, when I paint a picture I just alow myself to be used. I pick up the pencil and the canvas. I allow the interaction with soul to reflect in the mind, to put down these images of people, men or women or children especially. I may draw a hundred children, but there is never the same colour."

“My paintings are icons, that is to say, they are images which help focus on spiritual powers, generated by traditional belief and wisdom.”

"I paint with these colours to heal, my paintings honour the Anishnaabe ancestors who have roamed the Great Lakes for centuries upon centuries."

"I transmit astral plane harmonies through my brushes into the physical plane. These otherworld colours are reflected in the alphabet of nature, a grammar in which the symbols are plants, animals, birds, fishes, earth and sky. I am merely a channel for the spirit to utilize, and it is needed by a spirit starved society."

"I may not have a Ferrari, but I'm the first Indian to break into the Canadian art scene and I have forever enriched the Canadian way of life. I want to make paintings full of colour, laughter, compassion and love. I want to make paintings that will make people happy, that will change the course of people's lives. If I can do that, I can paint for 100 years."