Norval Morrisseau rare masterwork from Calgary unveiled in Thunder Bay, Ont., after 4 decades in storage | CBC News

Rare, 'very spiritual,' 'very powerful' mural created in Jasper, Alta., on display until Jan. 3

After 40 years in storage, a massive painting by Ojibway artist Norval Morrisseau has been unveiled at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery in northwestern Ontario.

The Morrisseau Masterwork painting, at roughly 6.7 metres long and just over three metres high, hadn't been viewed publicly since 1986.

It's on loan from EA Studios Calgary, which is collaborating with the gallery to mount the rolled, raw canvas from its collection on a stretcher — an auxiliary frame with expandable joints —  for conservation.

The large Woodland Style mural depicts a gathering of adults, children, animals, birds and spiritual beings in a scene with natural elements.

“I’m really excited. I have to tell you, the first time I unrolled it with our contractors, it was very overwhelming, but in a positive sense," said Joseph Helmy, director of EA Studios Calgary. "This piece, it’s just very spiritual. It’s very powerful. It’s really hard to describe."

“This piece, I think, is going to really bring a lot of people together...," Helmy said.

“From what I’ve learned through the stories that my father has shared and through the expertise of Mr. Jonathan Manovich, Norval’s paintings were created to tell his stories, but they were also created to bridge Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together — and that’s what I hope that this painting will do.”

Helmy’s family began their relationship with the artist in 1985 when his father, Galal, was recommended to sponsor Morrisseau’s work by Winnipeg art dealer Robert Checkwitch. 

Helmy said the artist called and told his father he dreamt he was painting for him in the Canadian Rockies, where he resided in Jasper, which intrigued him and prompted him to book Morrisseau on a flight to Alberta.

Morrisseau continued to live and paint in a studio above EA Studios Calgary, which operated at the time out of the Maligne Canyon Tea House, during the winters until 1987.

“This piece was actually painted for my father and he actually never had this hung on the wall before,” Helmy said. It was shown only at a couple of Edmonton exhibitions and last shown in 1986, he added.