Painter Dozay Captures Native Legends and Landmarks on Cape Breton Island
Dozay (Arlene Christmas) is an Aboriginal artist living on the island of Cape Breton, where she researched legends about the native Mi’kmaq hero, Glooscap. Little by little he went to visit particular places where these stories occurred and created airbrushes, acrylic paintings that celebrate both the legends and these milestones. His work is so good that it is being shown in local native cultural galleries at Cabot Shores Resort; and will travel to Melbourne, Australia in late 2009 and, in 2010, will be a representative of Aboriginal maritime art at the Vancouver Olympics.
What landmarks and legends did you discover in your research?
The stories portray Glooscap as a hero and a story tells of his canoe. Dozay portrays this canoe and how, according to legend, it broke down and became the Bird Islands off Indian Brook on the Atlantic side of Cape Breton Island.
Another nearby landmark is Cape Dauphin, where the famous Glooscap Cave is located on the cliffs. This is a sacred place for the local Mi’kmaq and they and other viewers are captivated by the way this cave is depicted in Dozay’s painting called Glooscap Gate. The Mi’kmaq said that if you offered the right kind of fish and fuel, you could get good luck.
Finally, there is the quality of the island of Cape Breton, which in Mi’kmaq is called “Unamagi” or “land of fog”. His paintings have this haunting look.
A wide connection of nature and legend throughout the Wabanaki (Sea-based tribes)
Although Dozay grew up in the Maliseet tribe in New Brunswick, he found a similar connection to nature and the sea among the Mi’kmaq with whom he now lives on the island of Cape Breton.
And Dozay believes that what is depicted in the Glooscap legends is really a kind of leadership and teaching that runs through the heritage of each of the 5 tribes of the Algonquin confection called “Wabanaki”:
Dozay said of Glooscap: “It was as real as the landmarks he left behind. Just as it is to all the Wabanaki tribes in the Maritimes.”
The art of Dozay is kicking off a Wabanaki festival
Dozay’s art makes its way across Cape Breton from the galleries at Wagmatcook and Membertou to Cabot Shores Wilderness Resort, which faces these bird islands and Glooscap Cave. There, Dozay’s Art Show will kick off the first Wabanaki Arts and Culture Festival on Cape Breton’s Cabot Trail.
Dozay has invited Native elders and Aboriginal artists to participate in this gathering called “Wabanaki Ways”. These artists are united in an organization called Nations in a Circle. This group wishes to extend the teachings of Glooscap and other native teachers, as well as creative expression through art, to native and non-native peoples.