Carl Gawboy

The Helmi Series

Carl Gawboy, a member of the Bois Fort Band of the Minnesota Ojibwe, was born in 1942 in Cloquet. He was raised in Ely, but has lived off and on in or around the Duluth for the past twenty years. Carl graduated from the University of Minnesota, Duluth, in 1965 and received a master's degree from the University of Montana in 1972. He has taught art in high schools and colleges. He also served as a museum intern for the 1972 Walker Art Center exhibition American Indian Art: Form and Tradition. Carl taught for twelve years at the College of St. Scholastica and another six years at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, teaching American Indian Studies and watercolor painting. He is currently retired and devotes much of his time to paInting. Carl Gawboy's work is primarily concerned with defining Ojibwe culture between 1850 and 1950, an era that best synthesizes Ojibwe activities with European technology. He does not paint religious symbols or spirituality. He focuses on the spirit of everyday life as depicted in rituals such as harvesting, ricing, hunting, canoeing and story telling. His work celebrates healthy, peaceful, sustainable living. Carl also draws on his memories and experiences of the Finnish American culture. Below are three paintings from a series about his mother Helmi Jarvinen; a piece that became the cover of a book; a painting based on a scene in Karelia; and finally, a thumbnail of a painting from 1974 of a Ojibway couple ricing - click on the thumbnail, and it will take you to a larger version on another website. And if you click on the painting of the sleigh in Karelia, it will take you to a gallery of Carl's work at the St. Scholastica College website. Carl is in the process of establishing his own website that will feature his current work for sale.