Indigenous artist found freedom in paintings

One of Canada’s greatest painters, who wedded Indigenous elements to the mainstream of modern art, has died.

- BOB WEBER

Alex Janvier helped found the so-called Indian Group of Seven — more formally known as the Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporation — with other First Nations artists in 1973. Since then, his works have been shown around the world.

Alex Janvier, whose thousands of works hang in private homes and public galleries across the country, was 89.

“Painting says it all for me,” Janvier said in a statement in 2012. “It is the Redmantalk in colour, in North America’s language. Our Creator’s voice in colour.”

Officials at the Assembly of First Nations annual general meeting announced the death and held a moment of silence in the artist’s honour on Wednesday.

Janvier was born Feb. 28, 1935, on the Cold Lake Indian Reserve, now Cold Lake First Nations, northeast of Edmonton.