Caring for Our Relations Art Print

The inspiration for this image comes from a visit to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota. Some of the WRC patients on the image are Trumpeter Swan, Eastern Cottontail Wild Turkey, House Sparrow, Opossum with family, Flying Squirrel, Cardinal, Turtle, Mouse, Finch, Raccoon, and Crow.

Norval Morriseau, a Canadian Ojibwa, introduced Native artists to the Woodland style. I believe that this style of art is created from the combination of Ojbwa petroglyphs (drawings or carvings on rocks? and images from birch bark scrolls. These images can also be identified as x-ray vision. The artist usually paints the images with a heavy black outline and paints what is felt or perceived inside animals or people. What is painted inside and encircling the animal or person represents spirits or sources of power.

Gordon is an enrolled member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe of Northern Wisconsin and a descendant of the Ottawa tribe in Michigan. Now living in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Gordon is a self taught artist, creating and experimenting with a variety of media including linoleum block prints, paintings, pen and ink drawings, and creations in stone, wood, and assembled sculptures. 

Although his artwork is more contemporary, each piece portrays a unique view of traditional Native stories or is a record or impression of Indigenous history in North America.