Inscription on back: Robert Mancuso, a member of the Sioux Valley band, residing in Brandon, MB, has been developing his art since childhood. It is only recently, however, that he's been working in the native style, reflecting the spirituality that comes from the native view of things. He has undertaken native art classes at Brandon University that he says has greatly influenced his direction. He says it is like stepping through a new door into a world full of wonders waiting to be explored through his art. Contemporary native art is exciting and challenging to work in. He says 'it always has a horizon'. This picture, depicted in ink, represents the four elements showing the sun as fire, buffalo as earth, eagle as wind, and the lines as water. He has tried to convey the feeling of the spiritual force as it moves, with boldness across the vastness of the plains.
Jack Shadbolt was born in Shoeburyness, England in 1909. His home in Canada is Vancouver; Shadbolt also resided in New York and Southern France for prolonged periods of time. After his stay at the Mediterranean, Shadbolt's palette lightened and his medium changed to oil. His work became abstract, mosaic-like, creating architectonic vision by splitting color. Shadbolt is considered one of Canada's most important abstract artists. (The Crisis of Abstraction in Canada. Denise Lecler. P.178-9). Jack Shadbolt taught at the Vancouver School of Art and, before his retirement in 1966, was a catalyst for West Coast art as a teacher, lecturer and writer. 'Rocks' is one of the artist's earlier pieces - representational in subject matter and executed in watercolor, his first medium. (1996 inventory)
