Saskatchewan painter believes "art is us"

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Dennis Morrison was found on the dance floor at Checkers in the Landmark Inn, one of a dozen-and-a-half frantic workmen trying to refurbish the Regina pub in time for the next day's grand opening. With a paint brush in hand he was up a ladder touching up grey stones on the ceiling, and readying himself for an all night job of drawing a large mural of a truck driving through mock wallpaper.

"I was asked to add a dab of orange to the middle of the stones after I had finished the job," said Morrison, who then starts to chuckle.

It was a mundane job for this well-known potter, headdress designer, jewellery maker, leather, dreamcatcher and wall hanging craftsman, and above all, painter. But Morrison, who goes by the Cree name that means "He who lives with the king" was enjoying himself just the same.

When the 50-year-old from Ochapowace, Sask. was asked if he would describe himself as a happy person, Morrison quickly agreed, but he thinks long and hard about what makes him sad, saying, sweetgrass helps during these times.

"The only thing that makes me blue is when an old person or an Elder dies because one of my teachers is gone."

Many of his works are on permanent display at the Landmark Inn, his home-away-from-home: Several monochrome acylic paintings hang in the restaurant. In keeping with the First Nations theme of the hotel, he painted a landscape mural in Room 160, complete with eagles and stars on the ceiling that sparkle when the lights are turned out. (The painting was done only after the room was stripped, and the room smudged, purified and cleansed.)

The show stopper, located around the corner from the front desk, is a large painting about Indian identity dominated by a buffalo hunter with a horned headdress.

"I use a lot of realism and symbolism," explains Morrison, to reflect the good hunting, the peacefulness, the meaning of the traditional upbringing.

Morrison, who lived on Ochapowace until he was 16, was raised in the traditional ways. As the co-ordinator of cultural camps at Ochapowace, he still returns there to learn and to pass on the traditions of food, dance, games and so on. The cultural camps have been held for two weeks each summer during the last 20 years. Initially they were held for band members, but then were opened to such groups as the Regina Police Service and even a visiting group of 40 people from Taiwan.

"What got me started was cultural camp. From then on art became more deep and meaningful," explains Morrison.

"We worked with the environment. Each pole of the tipi -it's a value system - learning to be a better person identity-wise. I take you back about a 100 years in the lodge. You live in there and there are no watches, no radios, nothing."

Since attending art college in Brandon, Man. years ago, Morrison has lived in Saskatoon, Kamsack and Regina, which has been his home for the last five years. Besides learning the First Nation traditions from Elders at Ochapowace, he has lived and studied for a year with the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico. He's travelled to Singapore as a cultural counsellor with the Saskatchewan Native Dance Troupe.

In Moose Jaw, where there are a number of large murals downtown, his work graces the side of the SaskTel building - his painting of "Whistling Elk" regaled in a bison headdress. This Assiniboine chief came to Moose Jaw at the time of the Battle of Little Big Horn and was considered a beggar. But when he came back to Indian society, he was considered like a king on the reserve because he wore an imposing war bonnet with horns on it.

Morrison's work is also on display at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum in the First Nations Gallery. He painted a 50 by 40 foot stand-alone mural of the round dance, plus a small diorama on the Dene. He also won a contest to design a gallery logo that was judged by Elders.

As for the importance of art in his life, Morrison said, "Art is therapeutic - you think before you do things. It's education.

"But the most satisfying pat of creating art is helping youth and seeing the changes," he said. He's never held a gallery show or put a price on his art works, preferring to barter with people. He's worked part time for a year as a cultural counsellor at Paul Dojack Centre for troubled youth. During the last several months, he's also taught painting, and arts and crafts to inmates at the Regina Correctional Centre while passing on oral traditions.

For Morrison, who says his house resembles a store, it's all summed up at the bottom of his business card, " Art is us - it's everthing."