FURTHER READING

Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. (PNIAI) : The Indigenous Group of Seven

In the early 1970s, seven contemporary Indigenous artists came together to form a cultural and political collective to challenge Canadian art mainstream attitudes and government policies that characterized all Indigenous art as handicraft. Through their fight to be recognized as professional, avant-garde artists, these seven artists reached across cultural boundaries and expanded Canadians’ understanding of Indigenous visual art, setting a new standard of acceptance for emerging artists who followed.

The group began as a gathering of artists in the store of Daphne Odjig and her husband Chester Beavon, Odjig Indian Prints of Canada Ltd., located at 331 Donald Street in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Odjig and other Winnipeg artists Jackson Beardy (1944-1984), Eddy Cobiness (1933-1996) and Joseph Sanchez (b. 1948) met to share their frustrations with prejudice in the Canadian art establishment and to discuss their artistic and professional ambitions. Recognizing the institutional barriers that stifled the careers of many Indigenous artists, they decided that their voices would have more power as a collective and extended an invitation to join them to other Indigenous artists across Canada. Their call was answered by three artists, Alex Janvier (1935-2024), Norval Morrisseau (1932-2007), and Carl Ray (1942-1978), and by 1972 a new self-styled “Group of Seven” was formed.

The Group formally proposed the name Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. (PNIAI) for their organization, and used this name when exhibiting, although they were legally incorporated in 1975 under the name Anisinabe Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. In the media they came to be known as the “Indian Group of Seven”, a name attributed to long-time friend of Daphne Odjig and Winnipeg Free Press reporter Gary Scherbain. It was Scherbain who purchased Odjig’s New Warehouse Gallery, an extension of Odjig Indian Prints, in 1976, helping Odjig and other Indigenous artists sell their art until 1984. The name Indigenous Group of Seven has no defined origins, but may be a modernization of the name Indian Group of Seven to reflect awareness of the ancestry and roots of Indigenous peoples in Canada and to avoid the stereotypes associated with the term Indian.

References and Resources:

LaVallee, M., MacKenzie Art Gallery, host institution, & Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. (2014). 7 : Professional Native Indian Artists Inc. MacKenzie Art Gallery.
Devine, B. (2021, June 17). Professional Native Indian Artists Inc., or the “Indian Group of Seven”. The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/professional-native-indian-artists-inc.
Rollason, K. (2021). Indigenous art love became life’s work. Winnipeg Free Press: Passages. https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/briefings/indigenous-art-love-became-lifes-work

Woodland Style of Art

The Woodland Style of Art (also called the “Woodland School”), is a distinctly Indigenous art style characterized by bright colours. Sometimes called “x-ray art”, Woodland Style depicts the dark outlines of its figures, often people and animals linked by linework, and their skeletal and internal structures within the outline.

Norval Morrisseau (1932-2007) originated Woodland Style in the 1950s, and several exhibitions popularized it in the 1960s. His work was exhibited in a contemporary Toronto art gallery in 1962, the first exhibition of its kind for an Indigenous artist, and his art was selected for display at Expo 67 in Montreal alongside eight other Indigenous artists. Contemporaries of Morrisseau include Alex Janvier (1935-2024), Daphne Odjig (1919-2016), and Carl Ray (1942-1978).

Woodland Style often features spiritual themes rooted in an artist’s cultural heritage – Morrisseau was interested in Anishinaabe rock pictographs and Midéwiwin birchbark scrolls, referencing them in his art and even painting on birchbark himself at times.

Despite drawing inspiration from historical art, Woodland Style employs formal composition techniques to create a distinct visual language. The style has also shifted and evolved since it was founded by Morrisseau, changing to reflect the ongoing interests of Indigenous artists who represent the second generation of the Woodland School.

Second Generation Woodland Style artists include Roy Thomas (1949 – 2004), Blake Debassige (1956–2022), Joshim Kakegamic (1952–1993), and Saul Williams (b.1954). Their work experiments with the stylistic roots invented by Morrisseau, often incorporating more elements of the abstract and graphic to paint both traditional spiritual subjects and modern Indigenous issues. Contemporary artists painting in the Woodland Style include Patrick Paul, Tom Tom Sinclair, Mishiikenh Kwe, Bree Island, and Jared Tait.

References and Resources:

Angel, S. (2025). Inspired by Norval Morrisseau: His legacy for 11 Canadian artists. Art Canada Institute. https://www.aci-iac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Art-Canada-Institute_Newsletter_Inspired-by-Norval-Morrisseau.pdf

Hill, T. & Filice, M. (2024, November 22). Norval Morrisseau. The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/norval-morrisseau

Laskaris, S. (2023, September 11). Manitoba city to host art show with a Woodland-style theme. Windspeaker. https://windspeaker.com/news/windspeaker-news/manitoba-city-host-art-show-woodland-style-theme

Morrisseau, N. (2005). Norval Morrisseau: Return to the house of invention. Key Porter Books.

Robertson, C. (2016). Norval Morrisseau: Life & work. Art Canada Institute. https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/norval-morrisseau/

Soapstone Carving

‘Soapstone carving’ is often used as a blanket term for sculptures carved from a single block of soft, compact rock or mineral, such as soapstone, serpentine and pyrophyllite (Sabina, 2015). While soapstone and related materials have for millennia been carved for use as tools, toys, spiritual objects and decorative items by many cultures worldwide, the production of soapstone carvings for purely artistic purposes became popular among Canadian Indigenous artists in the 20th century.

Leading up to the Second World War, the Government of Canada, in partnership with territorial governments and the Hudson’s Bay Company, sought to promote Inuit crafts as a source of revenue for northern communities (Graburn, 2004). This was viewed by the government as a form of welfare, and despite the desire to promote Inuit crafts there was a general disbelief that a market existed for these works. However, the view by non-Indigenous Canadians of Inuit crafts as having artistic merit began to change through the efforts of the ‘Indian and Eskimo Committee’ of the Handicrafts Guild in Montreal (Graburn, 2004). Through their exhibitions of Inuit art in the south, and the relationships with Inuit artists built by Toronto artist James Houston, a growing interest in Inuit art, and particularly carving, was awakened in Canadian and US art collectors in the late 1940’s. Encouraged by the new markets opening in Ontario and Quebec, the modern commercial art of Inuit soapstone carving developed, merging the ancient practice of ivory carving with deep knowledge of the land to source new materials, and forming a new artistic identity for the Inuit people (Graburn, 2004; Igloliorte, 2007).

Woodland Indigenous peoples have a rich artistic tradition of creating sculpture with stone by embellishing tools and religious objects (Apodaca et al., 2018). The introduction of metal tools by Europeans allowed Indigenous sculptors to implement more complex designs and increase production, and the turn to new carving materials enabled the development of unique and distinctive regional artistic identities. The production of sculpture using materials sourced from the earth reflects the deep connection of Indigenous peoples to the land and its resources (sccressman, 2024). Contemporary sculptures produced by Anishnabek artists often represent animals or spirits, acting as visual narratives of Indigenous legends, history, spiritual beliefs or cultural customs.

References and Resources: 

Apodaca, P., Gidley, M., Middleton, D., Worthington, G., Booker, M., Laforet, A., Danford-Cordingly, J., Taylor, J., Duncan, K., Cohodas, M., Whiteford, A., Feest, C., Wade, E., Baxter, P., Krinsky, C., Jonaitis, A., & Graham, M.  (2018, December 10). Native North American art. Grove Art Online. Retrieved 18 Sep. 2025, from https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000061112.

Graburn, N. H. H. (2004). Authentic Inuit Art: Creation and Exclusion in the Canadian North. Journal of Material Culture, 9(2), 141–159. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359183504044369

Igloliorte, H. (2017). Curating Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit: Inuit Knowledge in the Qallunaat Art Museum. Art Journal (New York. 1960), 76(2), 100–113. https://doi.org/10.1080/00043249.2017.1367196
Laugrand, F., & Oosten, J. (2008). When Toys and Ornaments Come into Play: The Transformative Power of Miniatures in Canadian Inuit Cosmology. Museum Anthropology, 31(2), 69–84. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1379.2008.00011.x

Sabina, A. (2015, March 4). Soapstone. The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/soapstone

Sccressman. (2024, November 20). Exhibit celebrates soapstone carvings by Six Nations artist Wayne Sky. Around the Region, Region of Waterloo. https://aroundtheregion.ca/free-exhibit-celebrates-soapstone-carvings-by-six-nations-artist-wayne-sky/

Stevens, S. M. (2020). Collecting Haudenosaunee Art from the Modern Era. Arts, 9(2), 55. https://doi.org/10.3390/arts9020055