Daphne Odjig, R.C.A.

Daphne Odjig, R.C.A. – Artist Biography

Celebrated artist Daphne Odjig was born in 1919 on the Wikwemikong Reserve, ManitoulinIsland. Her heritage is composed of Odawa, Potawatomi and English roots, the Native aspects of which were revealed to Odjig as a child on sketching excursions with her grandfather, a stone-carver. He taught her the legends of her ancestors and the use of the curvilinear design for which she has become revered.

Odjig had painted for most of her life but it was in the 1960s that she began to exhibit a deliberately Native perspective in her work and, like her grandfather, felt compelled to try to instruct the young about their heritage. To do so, she began to focus her art-making upon the legends, joys and realities of aboriginal life, while simultaneously refining her signature style of vibrant colours, soft contours outlined in black, overlapping shapes and modernist, abstracted figuration.

Odjig became a founding member of the first Canadian Native-run printmaking operation, the Canadian Professional Native Artist Association, or the "Indian Group of Seven" as they were described in the 70s. By this time she was exhibiting her work several times a year and had already gained international exposure in the United States, Europe and Japan. Her numerous awards include honorary doctorates from Laurentian University and the University of Toronto, an appointment to The Order of Canada, election to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art and the 2007 Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. In addition, she was presented with an Eagle Feather by Chief Wakageshig in 1978 on behalf of the Wikwemikong Reserve in recognition of her artistic accomplishments - an honour previously reserved for men to acknowledge prowess in hunt or war. Documentaries by the CBC, the National Film Board and Tokyo Television have been made about Odjig and she's completed commissions for Expo '70 in Japan, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the twenty-seven foot mural at the Museum of Civilization entitled The Indian in Transition. In 1984, her works were featured in a group exhibtion entitled: The Image Makers at the Art Gallery of Ontario. In 2007, she has a retrospective exhibition, organized by the Art Gallery of Sudbury and the National Gallery of Canada, entitled The Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig, A Retrospective Exhibition .

In 2011, Canada Post issued a three-stamp Art canada issue which celebrates her work and includes three paintings representing her powerful style. The paintings featured are: Pow-wow Dancer,1978, on the Canadian stamp, Pow-wow, 1969, on the US stamp and Spiritual Renewal, 1984, on the international stamp.

Gallery Gevik Exhibitions

Daphne Odjig Unveiling of the Canada Post Stamps & Art Exhibition February 26 to March 18, 2011

Manitoulin Island Carl Beam · Daphne Odjig · Angus Trudeau June 12 to July Long Weekend, 2010

Daphne Odjig A Past Revisited Until December 31, 2009

• 1998 Retrospective Exhbition, Gallery Gevik, Toronto