Canadian Aboriginal Paintings depicting the rich indigenous culture of the First Nation People's Woodland style of art. Living north of Lake Superior and south and west of the Hudson Bay coast.

Eugene Morriseau, Moses (Amik) Beaver, Francis Esquega, Raymond Linklater,

 

Eugene Morriseau
Sandy Lake First Nation

 Currently live in Thunder Bay, Ontario.  a member of Sandy Lake First Nation which is my home community.

I am one of seven of Norval Morrisseau’s children.

I am inspired by other peoples’ artwork. My other inspirations come from listening to my elders passing down stories. I try to visualize these stories and bring those images into my paintings. Each of my paintings has its own story.

Some of the people who inspired me were my uncles, Joshim Kakegamic and Goyce Kakegamic. They were the brothers-in-law of my father, Norval Morrisseau. These three people planted the seed in me to paint by letting me help them with their work when I was young.

I knew I had the talent. One of my biggest inspirations was watching my father paint when I was a boy. He used to tell me stories about the paintings and their meanings. I was too young to understand them at the time.
Back in the year of 2000, the seven of us were with my father in Thunder Bay. One evening he asked us, “Come and sit with me here”. He asked, “When I pass on, will my colours die?” After a silence, I responded, “Do you know how many generations you inspired through your artwork?”

There are four of us that inherited our father’s talent, me, Christian, David and my sister Lisa. I am a self-taught artist.
My inspiration is my father, Norval Morrisseau. Through my artwork, I would like to carry on my father’s colours in my own unique way.  When I am painting, sitting there, using the paints and colours, this is when my ideas and images come to me.

I am so grateful and fortunate to have inherited my father’s talent and to be able to carry on the Morrisseau name for my kids and future generations to come. “Your colours will live on!”
“Your colours will not die. Your colours will live on for the future generations to come. We will carry your colours.”

More information about Eugene Morriseau can be found on Lake Superior Art Gallery

Moses (Amik) Beaver
February 21, 1960 ~ February 13, 2017

Moses (Amik) Beaver is a Canadian Aboriginal Artist, from the fly-in reserve of Summer Beaver, Ontario (Nibinamik). He is self-taught, his use of colour revealing. He works with acrylic on canvas, Indian ink on paper and watercolour. While Moses’ work reflects the black lines of traditional Woodlands art, he embraces his own unique style of embedded images of spirits, human faces and animal forms, transcending physical boundaries to the outer dimensions of the spiritual realm. In this his work reflects symbolism, realism and abstract imagery.

As stories for the First Nations People have always been a major tool of cultural transmission holding the history, values, beliefs and spirituality of the people, Moses hopes his work will resonate and awaken an awareness that is at once exciting and empowering, a way for all people to understand an Aboriginal world view.  Within this context, story telling through colour and imagery, he contributes to cultural revitalization, an awakening that continues to gather strength among the people to express and share the experience of being in and with the world, not masters of it.  

Moses works with the youth both within the educational system and in community projects.  This relationship with youths both inspires and motivates him and is a constant source of personal growth.

To learn more about Moses (Amik) Beaver Visit Lake Superior Art Gallery.

Francis Esquega
Rocky Bay First Nation

Francis Esquega was born in 1955, in Macdiarmid, located on the Eastern shores of Lake Nipigon and is a member of the Rocky Bay First Nation, Biinjitaawabik Zaageen Anishinabek. His Ojibwe name is Sikaasika.
In 1986, Francis attended Confederation College, graduating in 1988 with a General
Arts and Science Diploma. Later, he went on to Lakehead University with the
intention of obtaining a BA. For personal reasons, he left in his third year before he completed it. While at university he
  took acrylic painting classes and History of Western Art. 

You can learn more about Francis Esquega at Lake Superior Art Gallery

Raymond Linklater
Sandy Lake First Nation

Raymond Linklater is an Ojibwa/Cree from the Sandy Lake First Nation, a fly in community northwest of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Born in 1970 in Sioux Lookout, Ontario. Raymond now resides in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

"I started painting after seeing other artist's artwork; Carl Rae, Goyce Kakegamic, Lloyd Kakepetum, Saul Mamakeesick etc...these artists inspired me to do my own art style. I am also inspired by our Elders, hearing them tell their traditional stories of how our people use to live on the land. I also enjoyed hearing about how they hunted and what tools they used.

I am a self-taught artist, with the encouragement from Elders; I'm inspired to paint to keep our tradition alive by painting their stories. My style of art is of the animals. I began painting when I was young at school in Sandy Lake, Ontario. I was encouraged to paint little animals by my teacher.
I believe every artwork can affect people by helping them to be aware of all existing life in nature. Also I believe I can encourage our younger generation to discover their hidden talent that they have in themselves.

I was always amazed to see real moose along the water and other animals, just to keep memories of how beautiful and important the animals are in their environment. I believe by; using the gift and knowledge we (ALL - ARTIST) can express ourselves through our artwork."
Raymond Linklater; uses acrylic paint for its attractiveness of the colour it has on canvas. He enjoys learning about paints, technique


You can learn more about Raymond Linklater at

John Paul Lavand
Rat Portage First Nation

John Paul Lavand's heritage is Ojibway. Born in 1962, he was raised on Rat Portage Reserve near Kenora, in Northwestern Ontario. He was inspired to begin drawing at the age of six years by the death of his brother. In the beginning, his main theme was portraits of people. Later, as his work evolved, he began to concentrate more on drawing wild life. John's working medium is pen and ink with a hand brush touch of colour.
In addition to maturing in his style of detailed Wild Life Art, he is now creating a limited number of traditional native works in acrylics.
In 1980, John presented his first one-man exhibit at the Wah-Sa Gallery. Through such 
exhibitions, John has obtained the recognition of being an exciting new Canadian Native Artist living and working in Kenora, Ontario.
John has been recognized globally and has successfully sold prints as far as Germany, Austria, France, Australia and Japan. 

You can learn more about John Paul Lavand at