Shaganash Bearing Gifts 5/20

About Shaganash Bearing Gifts 5/20

John Hartman, considered one of Canada’s preeminent painters, is perhaps best known for his beautiful gestural paintings and drawings of the rugged northern landscape.
This silkscreen print—5/20 hails from a series inspired by the time he spent in a remote aboriginal village in Ontario where his wife was teaching. Struck by the history, religion and community of the Ojibway people, his work began to reflect their stories. Shaganash means white person in Anishinaabe language.
Against a slate gray and white background, a ‘collage’ of ghost-like figures, a cross, a wolf, a window frame among other objects creates a compelling story. The colour palette is bright pink, yellow, green, purple and black.

“I understood that falling in love with art was part of what made artists great. That happened for me at McMaster.” John Hartman

Born in 1950 in the small town of Midland on Georgian Bay, Ontario. He studied painting at the Dundas Valley School of Art and fine art at McMaster University in Hamilton. Hartman has exhibited extensively in Canada, New York, New Orleans, and England. He received the Order of Canada in 2021. His work is held in numerous public and private collections including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the New Orleans Museum of Art, and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.