First Name: Blair

Last Name: Debassige

Full Name: Blair Debassige

Date of birth: 1961

Place of birth: M'Chigeeng, Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada

Community / Heritage: Ojibwe/Anishinaabe

Sex: Male

Art Media: Acrylic, Canadian acrylic, oil.

Bio:

Blair Debassige is a Canadian Indigenous artist of Ojibwe heritage. He was born in 1961 in M'Chigeeng First Nation, Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada. Debassige is related to Norval Morrisseau, the founder of the Woodland style. Morrisseau served as a mentor as well as an influence on Debassige’s style.

Debassige uses acrylics and oil to create works on paper, birch bark, drums, shields and bone. He paints in the Woodland style, but with a unique sense of colour, form and content. His art expresses the traditions, sacred symbols and teachings of the Ojibwe people. 

Debassige opened the Nimkee Art Gallery on Manitoulin Island, which he continues to run alongside his artistic practice. 

Debassige’s work is held in private and public collections all over the world including the collection of former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, the Department of Indian Affairs and Arts Council of Canada, the Royal Ontario Museum, and the Vatican in Rome.

Collections

• Prime Minister, Jean Chretien, Canada
• The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Vatican in Rome, Italy
• Indigenous Art Centre (before: Department of Indian Affairs and Arts Council of Canada), Gatineau, QC, Canada

Articles

• https://app.pch.gc.ca/application/aac-aic/artiste_detailler_ind-artist_detail_ind.app?rID=20885&fID=2&lang=en&qlang=en&pID=1&anm=Debassige%2C+Blair&sort=AM_ASC&ps=50&pID1=263&ps1=50&ansf=TAM&sort1=ascending
• http://sagacioushillbilly.blogspot.com/2010/05/blair-debassige.html
• https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/the-art-of-religion-56369
• https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/norval-morrisseau-and-the-art-of-forgery