Woodland Indian and First Nations Art

Artists Index

Woodlands Style

The Woodlands style, Woodlands School, or Anishnabe painting is an genre of painting among Great Lakes tribes, notably the Ojibwe. The style is also known as Medicine or Legend Painting.

The style was founded by Norval Morrisseau, a First Nations Ojibwa artist from northern Ontario, Canada. He learned Ojibwa history and culture primarily from his grandfather Moses "Potan" Nanakonagos and later collected traditional narratives from his tribe in the 1950s. This oral history provided subject matter for his paintings, and he drew upon dreams and visions. Morrisseau said, "all my painting and drawing is really a continuation of the shaman's scrolls." Ojibwe rock art and birch bark scrolls, Wiigwaasabak, were stylistic antecedents of the Woodland style.

This visionary style emphasizes outlines and x-ray views of people, animals, and plant life. Colors are vivid, even garish. While Morrisseau painted on birch bark initially, the media of Woodland style tend to be western, such as acrylic, gouache, or watercolor paints on paper, wood panels, or canvas.