From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Norval Morrisseau'\, also known as Copper Thunderbird', is a native American artist.
He was born March 14, 1932 on the Sand Point Ojibwa reserve near Beardmore, Ontario. Some sources quote him as saying that he was born in Fort William, now Thunder Bay, Ontario, on the same date in 1931.
He developed his own techniques and artistic vocabulary which captured ancient legends and images that came to him in visions or dreams. He was originally criticized by the native community because his images disclosed traditional spiritual knowledge. He is acknowledged to have initiated the Woodland School of native art, where images similar to the petroglyphs of the Great Lakes region were now captured in paintings and prints.
Jack Pollock, a Toronto art dealer, helped expose Morrisseau's art to a wider audience in the 1960s.
He received the Order of Canada in 1978.
