Member of the Order of Canada, Tom Wilson: tehohåhake (Two Roads) is a 6 time JUNO Award winning Canadian musician, songwriter, famed storyteller, and visual artist. In his memoir, Wilson reveals the impact of discovering his Indigenous heritage.

“I needed an outlet besides writing music and there is a great meditative bond I found between me and the canvas.” — Tom Wilson

His art show Beautiful Scars: Mohawk Warriors, Hunters and Chiefs premiered at the Art Gallery of Burlington, and his work The Mystic Highway was commissioned by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for a 30’ x 30’ reproduction legacy piece adorning John Street in Hamilton. The painting pays homage to the rich history of Hamilton musicians and performers from the past.

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Wilson’s art has consistently drawn inspiration from the dreamlike, mythological, and vibrantly colorful creations of Norval Morrisseau, the founder of the Woodland style. This type of work resonated with an inherent expressive instinct in the young Wilson, even before he became aware of the profound truths that would later unfold.

 

Rising Up and Reaching Out is a moving explanation of vast personal and socio–cultural territory. Identity, heritage, the mix and collision of cultures, the joy of ritual, dream and tradition as well as the scarring of trauma, all overlaid in a way by the interplay of nature, humanity, and spirit.

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While these paintings are visually striking and stand robustly on their formal and material merits, they cannot be classified as abstract. Instead, they are evocative journeys through a broad personal and socio-cultural landscape. Themes of identity, heritage, the blend and clash of cultures, the celebration of rituals, dreams, and traditions, as well as the wounds left by trauma, are all intricately woven together by the interplay of nature, humanity, and spirit.

https://tomwilsononline.com/