Ten Generations Then an Artist: The Susan A. Ross Story

Description

By: James R Stevens

The late Canadian artist Susan Andrina Ross left art lovers an indelible record of images of the far north of the country; of the boreal forest, the barrens and the ice bound arctic. Her gift to Canada is unparalleled by other, more well known artist in North America. She arrived with her sketch books, paints, and easel when the northern regions were in transition. Ancient culture was quickly submitting to the efficient appeal of westernization; gasoline and propane replacing whale and seal oil, snow machines faster then dog teams, prefab buildings trumping igloos and log homes in the boreal forest, herbal remedies forgotten in the face of penicillin. The changes among Inuit and Indigenous families from the Seven River Flowing into the Hudson Bay north to Baffin Island were arriving on government built runways. It seems remarkable now that a 48-year old artist with a husband and four children would begin such a journey into the Aboriginal world in Canada. The creative record that she left of changing northern culture is a gift to us all.