The Ojibway Dream

Joan McGrath is a Toronto Board of Education library consultant.

His feelings were too strong for words, even such words as: “My pillow is a burning log. You could rake coals over my body. Death will not put the fire out.” Arthur Shilling knew that death was near, even though he was a young man; he was only 45 when his untimely end came. He did not live to see his book completed. Knowing that his damaged heart could not long sustain him, he wrote and painted, seeking “immortality in color.” His time was so precious, he grudged spending any of iteven in sleep.

Shilling poured his fierce love of life, of his people, their courage, strength and dignity, into his blazing, slashing canvases. The Ojibway Dream collects 21 of his stunning paintings. As he truly foretold, death cannot put this fire out.