Odjig exhibit a statement of identity

Artists cry the softest, for they create works of beauty out of pain. Whether in longing for the past, escaping from the present or sighing in hope for the future, it takes sensitivity to create the breadth of work Daphne Odjig has contributed to Canadian Fine Art.
She's ever quick to smile and brims with a readiness to laugh. Whether or not Odjig's art comes from the inner processing of soft pain, she has definitely created beauty. Characteristically with colour, form, versatility and creative vision.
The Canadian Museum of Civilization, located in Gatineau QC, across the river from Canada's capital city, is hosting an impressive collection of the Anishinaabe kwe's serigraphs on paper entitled Daphne Odjig: Four Decades of Prints.
Themes of works winding within the gallery range from the Jerusalem Series (1975-76) through to Tales from the Smokehouse (1974). Both series from commissioned works, the latter from an invitation by El Al Airlines, the former from author Herbert T. Schwarz' exploration of the erotica ­ a gutsy challenge Odjig admits.
The body of works in-between offer glimpses of the personal Daphne Odjig : Childhood Memories; Homage to Grandfather; Prayer Series; Love Series; Motherhood Series and the celebrative Pow Wow Series ­ serving to unify the reminiscent artist.
The collection, organized and circulated by The Kamloops Art Gallery, reflects, predominantly, the purity and innocence of life's most tender aspects from a woman born in 1919 on the Wikwemikong Reserve.
A forty year snapshot of 95 works from an expansive volume the 88 yrear-old has committed her life to.
Circles, ovals, curves and colours prevail - reminding us of our cyclical patterns, celebration of life, harmony, wholeness and our interconnectedness to all things - especially highlighted in Odjig's more recent, In Tune with the Infinite (2004).
In earlier works, Indian Day School and Classmates (1980s), the circles interconnect tighter as if in protection from the harsher reality of an imposed education system. And, with a swift strokeHusking Corn, Bundled and Ready, and Old Swimming Hole (also from the 80s) portray family unity, security, community.
Her vivid subjects often give the impression of being shy about being viewed by an admirer or curiosity seeker.
Those with eyes wide open seem wary of what they see, as illustrated in The Medicine Dream (1974) whose figure is both Sleeping and Awake.
The Elders, painted in 1981, noticeably depicts faces without oval contours. Birckbark asks why her work has been embraced by mainstream population.
She laughs saying she was just having fun and did not consciously decide to paint square heads.
Then, adding with a glint in her eye, "Except perhaps, it came from somewhere in my spirit," tapping her chest to indicate her very heart and soul.
Odjig has inspired many as one of the co-founders of the "Indian Group of Seven" (Professional Native Indian Artists Association); participant in the very first exhibition of Native artists in a Canadian public gallery (Winnipeg, 1972); publisher; subject of a stage play and documentary film; book illustrator; gallery owner; inductee to the Order of Canada; recipient of more than one sacred eagle feather and-in her eighties - fashion designer! (Odjig is stunning in her shawl designed from her Indian in Transition (1978), a permanent installation at the Museum of Civilization and appropriately greeting at the entrance to the artist's current exhibit.)
Odjig is her own Indian in transition, from humble beginnings on the Wikwemikong reserve on Manitoulin Island to commissioned works and five honorary doctorates in recognition of this internationally acclaimed Aboriginal artist. Coming full circle, in spite of a long lifetime of achievement bringing her as far away as Japan, France and Israel, her visual voice speaks perhaps most strongly to the spirit of her cultural community.
Although Odjig is renown for bringing Aboriginal political issues to the forefront of contemporary art and launching an Aboriginal cultural revival, this collection of prints is primarily a gentle statement of Aboriginal identity ­ softening our own sadness of the oppressive experience. And Odjig is not sad because she has the courage to unabashedly express her self, and her culture, through her gift of art. The result of Odjig's perseverance presents a sense of happiness.
The exhibition is currently on display in Gatineau until April 20.