A large and very bright colourful painting by Norval Morrisseau titled
SHAMAN AND DISCIPLES
1979
acrylic on canvas
Depicting three Indigenous people, a shaman in the centre with “disciples” on either side. There are birds and snakes interwoven in the scene too. Behind them is a mustard yellow backdrop, below them are large areas of teal, green and purple, and the rest of the colours are a range of bright colours in the full spectrum of the rainbow outlined in black making this a very powerful and vibrant piece, like most of his work is.
A smaller painting titled
MIDE CEREMONY
by Cree artist TOSHIM KAKEGAMIC
C. 1975
acrylic on board
Caramel brown background with three stylized animals and many colourful black outlined shapes with black dots or lines or other designs in them. The colour palette is mostly rustic and includes red, orange, yellow, brown, green and blue.
Caption reads: The Mide (pronounced mi-DAY) is an ongoing Anishinaabe tradition that engages with metaphysical and social concerns. The objective is to direct the spiritual development of individuals throughout life so that they can become attuned to the spiritual activity unfolding around them—in the physical world but also in human society and the world of non-human beings. In the Elizabethan world view humankind was percerved to be the pinnacle of creation. In the Anishinaabe world view, this is not the way we see things. We try to understand how not to do harm and to always be in good relations with the non-human beings and spiritual entities that are located both above and below us in the order of creation.
A modern piece by art collective
NATIVE ART DEPARTMENT INTERNATIONAL
AANZINAAGO (CAUGHT IN A
TRANSFORMATION) 01
2024
acrylic on canvas
Using very bright colours, the shapes are familiar and inspired by artists like Morrisseau with black outlines but stretched and warped. The colour palette is mostly deep yellow, orange, red, blue, white and green.
Founded in 2016, Native Art Department International (NADI) is a long-term collaborative project created by Maria Hupfield (b. 1975, Wasauksing First Nation, Martin clan, Anishinaabe) and Jason Lujan (b. 1971, Chiricahua Apache, Mexican). Through their use of bright colour and bold graphic shapes with thick black outlines, their work references the style of Norval Morrisseau and the Woodland School. However, here the forms are not legible, but instead appear distorted and warped. NADI often wryly comments on the expectations many Indigenous artists feel to make work that appeals to the often-narrow settler understanding of what Indigenous art is. This work offers a taste of familiarity but also subverts expectations.
A huge wall piece of a busy, detailed scene filled with many Indigenous, White and Black people, two horses and a green field with dark stormy clouds in the background by Cree artist
KENT MONKMAN
WEDDING AT SODOM
2017
acrylic on canvas
From the earliest days of his career, Kent Monkman has been a master of pastiche in many media, borrowing from the tropes of art history, including the landscape paintings of the Hudson River School, early cinema, and the nineteenth-century daguerreotypes of Indigenous touring performers in the popular Wild West shows. This painting is part of Monkman's ongoing reimagining of the history of North America. The artist's alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, rides in on horseback to deliver the arrow of desire to a hunky cowboy, while a gay marriage unfolds in the foreground
Monkman's Wedding at Sodom commemorates the early nineteenth-century "rendezvous" that took place in the American West in which settler and Indigenous merchants, ministers, traders, and fur trappers would meet to trade and mingle, sometimes for rowdy weeks on end. Monkman gives the rendezvous a two-spirited spin, suggesting that these gatherings offered many settler men liberation from the repressive confines of European gender and social roles.
A subtle note of tragedy is struck in the figure of the young Indigenous woman being carried off at right, an early victim of the smallpox epidemics that swept through Indigenous communities following contact with settlers.
The McMichael Canadian Art gallery in Kleinburg has a gorgeous Indigenous art exhibit on right now until March 2026. A few pieces by Monkman, more than a few by Morrisseau, and many, many others including Inuit & Haida artists too. Plus, a beautiful short hike around the grounds await after the art.
![[alt text by NASA] The Moon, seen here backlit by the Sun during a solar eclipse on April 6, 2026, is photographed by one of the cameras on the Orion spacecraft’s solar array wings. Orion is visible in the foreground on the left. Earth is reflecting sunlight at the left edge of the Moon, which is slightly brighter than the rest of the disk. The bright spot visible just below the Moon’s bottom right edge is Saturn. Beyond that, the bright spot at the right edge of the image is Mars. Credit: NASA](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:62gdkmpwa7xme36getyqnem3/bafkreiakufyngycqogzws43gzq5ei2zayvoozx42wmbmyawywxyjqhw2ua)
