Lot #107: Cree First Nations - Vintage Watercolour 1983 "Isaac Bignell" Original "Grace And Beauty"

 Wood Framed, Triple Matted, Under Glass 

 Isaac Bignell was a Cree painter, born in 1958 in The Pas, Manitoba 400 miles north of Winnipeg Manitoba. He grew up and lived on Opaskwayak Cree First Nation until his early teens. Isaac moved too Winnipeg, then too Minneapolis, MN and later to Vancouver, BC. Outside of a few art classes, Isaac was a self-taught painter who developed his own style of sponge painting, painting of wildlife images distinguished by flowing lines. His art was strongly influenced by the traditional ways of his people. He was brought up to live off the land from an early age. Hunting and trapping, living in harmony with the earth taught him to respect the animals and the spirit and power of nature. Isaac was a hoop dancer and sang and drummed at Pow Wows to maintain his cultural heritage. Through art and dancing he attempted to influence native people to continue their cultural ways; the gift that was given to them by the Great Spirit." Isaac died at the peak of his career at the age of 37 on December 17, 1995 at the Munson Medical Centre in Traverse City, Michigan USA