2.04.2006

art

The National Gallery of Canada is holding a retrospective of the work of Norval Morrisseau.

It's the Gallery's first solo show by a First Nations artist. Art created by aboriginal people is often exhibited in museums, as artifact or craft, but many Western eyes still have trouble viewing it as art.

Morrisseau himself is disabled with Parkinson's disease. I'm glad this show was done in his lifetime. I'm wondering if we can get to Ottawa to see it. Ottawa is on my list of places to visit, but I doubt we can do it before the show closes on April 30.

To see some of Morrisseau's work online, try here, here or here. This page is especially good. This page from the CBC website has good annotations accompanying the photos.

5 comments:

Marnie said...

Aw, go on, drive up (about five hours?) and catch the show. Swing by Sussex Drive and watch the moving vans, too. I can get you the name of a nice B&B. Maybe I'll even tell you about the time my mother and I got into trouble with National Gallery security. :)

laura k said...

Hmmm. Tempting! (Especially if it includes a story about your mother!)

I'm inclined to save a trip to Ottawa until we can spend a few days and see the city. But you know, I really want to see this exhibit. Maybe we should get a dogwalker (easily done) and just go for the day.

Hmmm.

Steeped Tea said...

Don't think you can do Ottawa for a daytrip. It's more of a two day trip. The drive is longish from our area (I can do it in six hours - I go every summer!) Unless you LIKE driving and have two drivers.

I will say though that the National Gallery of Canada is beautiful! Well worth the trip to Ottawa.

andrea said...

It's a little shameful that this is the NG's first retrospective of a native artist. I still want to go!

laura k said...

Unless you LIKE driving and have two drivers.

We do and we do. We've driven from NYC to Boston and back on the same day for baseball games. This would be about the same distance. Piece of cake. :)

It's a little shameful that this is the NG's first retrospective of a native artist.

Tis true. That's qualified by "solo" - I guess there have been group exhibits. But at least it happened while the artist was here to enjoy it.