Author Description

Odjig: The Art of Daphne Odjig, 1960-2000 is a graceful blend of biography, essay, and critique which illuminates the importance of this gifted artist to the Canadian artistic community and provides art lovers with a rare glimpse into the extraordinary heart of this painter. Odjig confronts the themes of the aboriginal experience, her family dynamic, and her spiritual beliefs in her paintings, which are extremely personal. Collectors of her works are awed by her innovative use of traditional aboriginal symbols, which transcend the specific culture from which they come. In the early 1960s, her development of a recognizable "Odjig style" garnered her enough attention to make possible her first solo show in 1967. Odjig's reputation as an artist was growing internationally and her commissioned painting Earth Mother was displayed at EXPO '70 in Japan. Odjig's importance as a Canadian artist is immeasurable. Bob Boyer, a renowned Metis artist and lecturer, absorbingly explores in his preface the place of Native art in the broader spectrum of Canadian culture, in order to provide a more in-depth perspective on Odjig's significance. Pamela Krueger, an award-winning appreciator of Canadian art, discusses in the introduction the course of Odjig's life and career and places her art into its cultural context.