Born in 1919 on the Wikwemikong Reserve on Manitoulin Island, ON, Daphne Odjig was the daughter of a Potawatomi father and an English mother. Odjig recalled that her father loved to draw and paint, and that her mother used to embroider. She would watch her grandfather, a tombstone carver, create beautiful lettering with his chisel. Odjig grew up surrounded by art.
In 1938, Odjig left the reserve for Toronto, where she became a wartime worker in the Inglis plant. She soon discovered the city's art galleries and libraries, where she perused books on art. After the war, Odjig and her husband opened an art gallery in Winnipeg. It was the first Canadian art gallery dedicated to aboriginal art, and it became a magnet for a group of artists that eventually became known as the 'Indian Group of Seven.'
In 1978, Odjig was commissioned by Ottawa's National Museum of Man to paint the historical mural entitled The Indian in Transition. This honour was one in a series that recognized and celebrated Odjig's talents as an artist. In 1986, she was made a member of the Order of Canada due to her great innovation and ability to work in a number of mediums and her being a central figure in the development of Native art in Canada. Odjig was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and has received honorary degrees from Laurentian, Toronto, and Nipissing. Furthermore, she was granted an Aboriginal Achievement Award and was given an eagle feather by the chief of the Wikwemikong Reserve, an honour formerly reserved for great hunters and warriors.
Genesis
Genesis is a highly stylized 'Mary and Child' painting rendered in Odjig's own style, which combines elements of cubism and surrealism with an aboriginal world view. Phillip Gevik of Toronto's Gallery Gevik calls the work "a great choice… [which displays] a kind and warm sentiment… a suitable theme for Christmas."
Library and Archives Canada
Native American Indian Resources
Native Online
Hambleton Galleries
Ojibwa Crafts and Art Gallery
First Nations Art
