Artist Reception: Exploring the Native American Experience in the Midwest

Artist reception for Gordon Coons

Gordon Coons is a painter, printmaker, and fumage artist. Largely self-taught, he paints in the Ojibwa Woodland style and creates fumage, and smoke art, by burning cedar. He embellishes his fumage pieces with 24-karat gold leaf. He also prints with linoleum blocks. Coons draws Inspiration from his Anishinaabe heritage, and his bright color palette comes from his natural surroundings in the Great Lakes region. “I also enjoy incorporating playfulness in my images, telling stories of relationships between Western and Native cultures, and the connection we have to our shared historical events,” he says in his artist statement. Coons exhibits nationally, and his work Is In permanent collections across the country.