First Name: Kenneth

Last Name: Thomas

Full Name: Kenneth Thomas Chee Chee

Alternative Names: Benjamin Chee Chee

Date of birth: March 26, 1944

Place of birth: Temagami, Ontario, Canada

Date of death: March 14, 1977

Place of death: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Community / Heritage: Ojibwe

Sex: Male

Art Media: Screenprint, oil, silkscreen print, acrylic & ink on paper, tempera on paper.

Bio:

Kenneth Thomas Chee Chee, better known as Benjamin Chee Chee, was a self-taught Canadian artist of Ojibwe descent. Chee Chee was born at the Temagami Reserve in Northern Ontario, Canada. His father died when Chee Chee was still in his childhood, and his mother was absent for most of his life. Chee Chee was sent to a reformatory school at the age of 12, and experienced profound loss and trauma as a result of his turbulent childhood. 

Chee Chee was a prominent member of the second generation of Woodland School painters. While many young Woodland artists worked within the style of the Woodland School’s founder, Norval Morrisseau, Chee Chee preferred to take influence from modern abstract art, resulting in a more minimalistic and graphic style.

Chee Chee developed a unique style of drawing characterized by clear graceful lines and minimal colour, typically depicting black geese and native wildlife. These drawings caught the public’s eye in 1973 after he held his first exhibition at the University of Ottawa.

At the age of 32, Chee Chee died by committing suicide in an Ottawa jail in 1977. He was at the height of his success as an artist and printmaker. He was buried in Notre-Dame Cemetery in Ottawa. 

Chee Chee's work has been exhibited posthumously throughout Canada.

Exhibitions

• 1973: University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1974: Canadian Indian Art '74, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1974: Doma II Art Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
• 1974: Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1976: Evans Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• 1976: Inukshuk Gallery, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
• 1976: The Sea Chest, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
• 1977: “Links to Tradition”, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (travelling), Marion Scott Galleries, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
• 1982: Glebe Community Centre, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1983: Contemporary Indian Art at Rideau Hall. Contemporary Indian Art at Rideau Hall, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• 1991: Benjamin Chee Chee: The Black Geese Portfolio, and Other Works, Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Ontario, Canada
• 2019: The Timmins Museum, Benjamin Chee Chee: Life and Legacy, Art Gallery of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada

Collections

• Canadian Museum of Civilization, Hull, Québec, Canada
• Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
• McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinberg, Ontario, Canada
• Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Thunder Bay Art Gallery, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
• Woodland Cultural Centre, Brantford, Ontario, Canada

Articles

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Chee_Chee
• https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/benjamin-chee-chee
• https://www.thesudburystar.com/entertainment/local-arts/benjamin-chee-chees-work-at-the-art-gallery-of-sudbury
• http://www.sudburyartscouncil.ca/en/benjamin-chee-chee-life-and-legacy-exhibition-now-open/
• https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/the-government-of-canada-supports-indigenous-arts-in-northern-ontario-893697839.html
• https://kimfahner.wordpress.com/2018/11/12/visiting-benjamin-chee-chee-life-legacy-at-the-art-gallery-of-sudbury/