About Christian Morriseau

"I speak as one son, an artist, and an Ojibwe. I am a born artist. This is not by accident. I work with and out of Anishnabe myths that have become the mark of the Woodland School of Art. I have had to contend with the terrible strength of my father’s vision. I am not alone. Such was his ability, that there is hardly a Native artist who does not learn from Norval’s artistic strength. My father taught by being. He never gave lessons. Art to him was waking in the morning. Art was revelation of the Ojibwe history. Art was getting ready for bed. I didn’t name it. I just knew it. I lived Norval Morrisseau’s art. My brother David and I sit solidly within the scope of Woodland Art – yet we are seen as different and alone." Christian Morriseau

Christian was born on December 11, 1969 and raised in Red Lake, Ontario. He is the youngest of Seven Children of the renowned Woodland Artist, Norval Morrisseau. He now currently lives between Thunder Bay and Keewaywin First Nation, Ontario. The signing of the Treaty 5 adhesion in 1910 established the Sandy Lake reserve across the water. But some families felt left out of the community life there.

It was decided to return to their traditional lands, where they used to set up their trap line to catch fur-bearing animals.

They named this new place Keewaywin, which means “going home” in Oji-Cree, the language spoken here. “They wanted that feeling of just being home,” say Joe Meekis, a form Keewaywin chief who is now a band councillor, recounting the local lore. “They were lonely for the land.”