Turning the Feather Around: My Life in Art

by George Morrison, Margot Fortunato Galt

"For fifty years George Morrison has had an active part in the world of contemporary art, and he is widely recognized as one of the most important Native American painters of his generation. In Turning the Feather My Life in Art, Morrison tells about his life's journey, which began in a small Ojibway community on Minnesota's North Shore and took him to Europe and New York City during one of the most exciting periods of twentieth-century art. Morrison's return to Minnesota and his Native American roots is a powerful human story of creativity and spirituality in the life of a powerful artist." Evan M. Maurer, Director and CEO, The Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Growing up in a large family ("we didn't know we were poor"), he bartered pictures with town kids and carved trinkets to sell to tourists. Encouraged by good high school teachers at Grand Marais, he attended art school in Minneapolis, then moved to New York City. At the Art Students League, George went about becoming an artist in earnest, absorbing the excitement of the new American style, Abstract Expressionism; showing his work in Greenwich Village lofts; and spending summers working and painting in Provincetown, R.I. Marriage and a teaching job at the Rhode Island School of Design seemed to fix his career firmly in the East. But in 1970, his direction turned toward home, and George began to search out his Ojibway heritage. His luminous small horizon paintings reflect his return to the "big water." Turning the Feather Around, the title taken from a name given to George in a healing ceremony, is a work of intimate personal disclosure that captures the pulse of the speaking voice and the vision of the artist's eye.

"When I saw George in the summer of 1994, after a lapse of several years, I sensed that he was ready to tell his story. We began the audio taping, sitting on a small sofa at Red Rock, George's studio home overlooking Lake Superior, and drinking coffee brewed strong and aromatic, the way he likes it. Though we tried to start at the beginning, the art on the walls and his current life led us to digress.

This book does not pretend to be the last word on George Morrison's life and art. But it is his word. Only George can paint his own picture, offer us humor and humility in the face of the vast lake, and place bits of driftwood just right to reveal the winding current of his life." Margot Fortunato Galt

Genres: Art

211 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1998

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Reviews

[Kandace · Rating 4 out of 5]

George Morrison has been on my mind lately as his work is soon to grace a postage stamp! It was fun diving more deeply into his life and this book is somewhat of an oral history gathering with comments by him as gathered by Margo Fortunato Galt along with some reflections from Hazel his ex-wife and friend/family/collaborator. The organization of the book was mostly chronological. I wish there would have been even more discussion of the paintings and other artistic works, but overall a really nice collection, glossy pages accommodate many images of his work. Again, I wish there would have been more!

[Lillian Vancel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated this a four because the author is such an interesting American Indian artist, and this book is an accurate reflection of his art, in his own words. He grew up on a reservation close to Lake Superior, but was not introduced to the many traditions of his people. He views himself as an artist, who just happens to be an Indian. His art is not traditional Native art, and would not be recognized at that. His paintings are very abstract and modern. He also has used extensively, the medium of wood. He lived in artist communities in New York and Paris, has taught art at universities and art institutes, and has lived a rather unconventional live. He did return to the reservation in the latter years of his life, feeling compelled to return "home". His insights are amazing and enlightening, the words of an artist.

[Butterflywolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a member of the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe, the same tribe as the author, George Morrison, I do not know as much as I believe I should of my native american heritage. Little by little I am getting there though. This book is very well written, and I love that it was mostly told by George himself, with the help of his wife, Hazel Belvo, although they later divorced. But as Hazel was quoted, "....but now we're friends. More than friends--we're family." And also, the writer who helped George get it all on paper, Margot Fortunato Galt. Educational, interesting, and very spiritual. Loved it!