Blake Debassige

A n I n t r o d u c t i o n t o
C o n t e m p o r a r y N a t i v e A r t i s t s i n C a n a d a

B l a k e D e b a s s i g e

b. 1956, Manitoulin Island, Ontario
First Nations Affiliation: Ojibwa

Motivated by the success of emerging artists of the Woodland School and the conviction of the importance of preserving Anishnabe knowledge, Blake Debassige began exhibiting work in his teen years. Primarily self-trained, his mature style solidified early, and is often applied to spiritual, cosmic, and ecological teachings clarifying and commenting upon contemporary issues. Debassige has received many public commissions for diverse work, has served on art juries, designs for productions of a theatre company he helped found, and has also curated, notably Political Landscapes #2: Sacred and Secular Sites (Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, 1991). In 1995, Laurentian University (which Debassige attended) conferred an honourary doctorate upon the artist.

R E C E N T E X H I B I T I O N S

1996	Geronimo's Studio. Munich, Germany The Art of the Anishnabek. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto Rodman Hall Arts Centre, St. Catherines, Ontario Grimsbury Public Art Gallery, Grimsbury, Ontario
1995	Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, Sudbury, Ontario Basket, Bead and Quill. Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario Riverwest Art Centre, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1994	Sudbury Theatre Centre, Sudbury, Ontario Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario Province of Ontario Legislative Building, Toronto, Ontario
1993	University of Osnabruck, Germany For the Love of It The Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona Distinctly Canadian. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario Budapest Ethnographic Museum, Hungary
1992	Eclectica. Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona First Nations Art '92. Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario Birthtales. A Space Gallery, Toronto, Ontario
1991	Political landscapes no. 2: sacred and secular sites. Tom Thompson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario; Ojibwe Cultural Foundation, West Bay, Ontario Sarnia Public Art Gallery, Sarnia, Ontario Indigenous People's Conference. King's College, London, Ontario
1990	Indian Art '90. Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

S E L E C T E D C O L L E C T I O N S

Anishinabe Spiritual Centre, Espanola, Ontario
Art Gallery of London, London, Ontario
Assembly of First Nations, Ottawa, Ontario
Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Québec
Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
Laurentian Museum and Arts Centre, Sudbury, Ontario
London Regional Art Gallery, Ontario
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario
New College, University of Toronto, Ontario
Ojibwe Cultural Foundation, West Bay, Ontario
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario
Tom Thompson Memorial Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario
Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario

S E L E C T E D B I B L I O G R A P H Y

Canadian Museum of Civilization, ed. In the Shadow of the Sun: Perspectives on Contemporary Native Art. Hull, Québec: The Museum, 1993.

Debassige, Blake, Ahmoo Angeconeb, and Roy Thomas. The Art of Anishnabek: Three Perspectives. Toronto, Ontario: Royal Ontario Museum, 1996.

Debassige Blake, and Stephen Hogbin. Political Landscapes No. 2: Sacred and Secular Sites : An Exhibition of Work by Thirteen Artists from Two Communities. Owen Sound, Ontario: Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, 1991.

Hill, Tom & Elizabeth McLuhan, eds. Norval Morrisseau and the Emergence of the Image Makers. Toronto, Ontario: Methuen, 1984.

Jordan, Betty Ann. "Fast forward." Canadian Art 13. no. 1 (1996): 21.

Menitove, Marcy, ed. The Permanent Collection: Thunder Bay Art Gallery. Thunder Bay, Ontario: Thunder Bay Art Gallery, 1986.

Southcott, Mary. The Sound of the Drum: The Sacred Art of the Anishnabec. Erie, Ontario: Boston Mills Press, 1984.

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