Paul Morin may be a world traveller, but it is the earth and our connection with nature that serves as his inspiration.
Morin, a painter for the past 35 years, said, “I’m lucky I don’t have to hold down another job in order to allow me to do my creative work.”
Born in Calgary, he grew up in rural Quebec outside of Montreal, but started art school in Alberta. From there, he attended Sheridan College, then the Ontario College of Art.
For the first decade, Morin was a commercial artist freelancing out of Toronto for magazines and publishers. Then, in the early 1990s, he started doing children’s books.
Since then, he has created 16 books on indigenous peoples around the world. Those issues include endangered species or environments, but are usually on primitive or indigenous cultures.
“I had the good fortune of my first book – The Orphan Boy – winning the Governor General’s Award for illustration. That really put my work on the international level. That in turn, facilitated a lot of opportunities for me. It shot me out of the category of being a commercial artist in the Toronto area, to still being a commercial artist, but now with projects out of New York, and a lot more book publishing projects.”
Morin explained that in addition to his books, he has been involved in hundreds of book covers, movie posters, and was getting involved in corporate work. That work allowed him to create some lifestyle changes – one of which was a move to Erin about 20 years ago.
Morin said he was drawn to the local area by a fluke. “I got to spend three weeks up here and realized it wasn’t so far away. All of a sudden I was seeing deer and turtles. I moved here knowing I could still sell my work in New York and Toronto … but I could be in a rural setting.”
His property has a studio looking out into the forest, which, in turn, is a source of inspiration for his work. Seven years ago, he opened his first gallery, in Rockwood.
“For years, I’d been selling my work and doing shows for art galleries – but always under the context of the other gallery putting on the show and me just being the artist there. All along, I’d wanted to locate in Erin, but there had never been the right location.”
Three years ago, he found the spot, a former toy store in which he saw the potential as a gallery space. “For the past three years, I have really enjoyed being on the main street of Erin.”
Now he is in the midst of another transition. At the beginning of March, the studio migrated to an even larger space at the Alton Mill Art Centre. “We’re stepping up the game a little bit.”
Morin said his gallery does a number of related activities in the studio space, such as film screenings, concert performances, art workshops and teaching.
“I put in about 60 to 80 hours per week in creative work, but it is effortless, because it is my lifestyle. It never feels like I am going to work.”
But for him to make ends meet, Morin produces music, documentaries, and paintings, “I’ve got to do a lot of things but they all feed each other.”
And by taking the back door to places, he has found he has been able to get experiences he’d never anticipated.
“If you are really aware and in the moment, there are all kinds of opportunities for you. If you start down a path and it feels right, that’s when things are going to happen.
“Too many people wait for the door to open … but what you have to do is start walking … the doors do not open until you are heading in that direction. Some of the neat things on the horizon include a five year archeological project – of a contact Inuit/Viking site and later contact Inuit/European site. It is a 575-year-old archeological site that I am documenting each year for five years while they are working on it.”
It gives him the opportunity to do a whole series of paintings. “It’s also going to be a children’s book, an adult book, but I also get to do this body of painting which will travel across Canada. It is a really interesting archeological site. It really is a doorway to Canada.”
Throughout the year, Morin spends considerable time in local natural areas, “so you are apt to see me on the side of the road, or along Silver Creek, or the mill pond in Erin. I travel abroad, as well as locally, to paint.”
A number of factors serve as his inspiration. “Because I spent 15 years doing books, which took me all across the world, and was able to see it from their point of view, I was really seeing a much more traditional view of the earth that we do not necessarily foster in the west. It is born of an intimate relationship with the environment one lives in.
“When I am travelling, I’m really interested in what it is in the environment, in the natural landscape, that inspires the people who live there, and how it affects their art, music and culture. When I am here, I am doing the same thing with my own experience. I am processing contemporary society, but through changes we see in the wilderness – and so-called wilderness that we live in.”
He cited a large forest in his back yard. “Because I moved to the country and have that, all of a sudden I became intimately aware of the daily changes.”
He will be in his sugar bush in the next few weeks spending roughly a month boiling sap each day. “I get part of that Canadian experience of gathering maple syrup, but it connects me with the trees that are on my land.”
Morin compared his work in other media as a means of recharging. “One of the ways I gather my inspiration or charge my personal batteries started when I was doing my books on indigenous people. Each of those projects involved about a year of my life. I would travel to the country and do a lot of research.”
There, he absorbed what he could – eating foods the locals eat, taking photographs, sketching, and shooting film.
“I’ve done numerous documentaries on the cultures I’ve visited – many have made it to television – sometimes they just make it to art installations.”
While the recordings serve to create an initial mood, he spends time with friends composing music adding to the idea before starting his painting.
Composing music allows him to sustain a mood for the five to eight months it might take to complete 20 paintings for a book. “You don’t have to tell the whole story in each of the paintings. You have an opportunity, much like the director of a film, to have a whole story arc throughout the book. Before, as an advertising illustrator, I had one shot – whether it was a Canadian Tire catalogue or a book cover – the one image has to capture everything.”
Morin also wants to make a difference in those communities. “Water is a big thing in my life – and a lot of my documentaries focus on that.”
“Because I’ve got really good sound recordings and the background meeting with indigenous peoples to know how to respect them and be respected as a foreigner coming in to their cultures.”
As a result, he was able to create a CD of Orinoco music – sacred Amazonian music of five different nations.
Morin was able to help document the event, and made a recording over the two weeks of the ceremony – then helped fund the creation of a CD, and the funds generated went back into the communities to purchase water systems.
“Just this small little seed project, raised over $20,000. We actually go down there, and I’ve been part of the team helping to build them.”
He added that being able to provide clean water makes such a difference in those communities.
When he first went down there was up to a 10% mortality rate in the children.
“The simple act of isolating the livestock from the water supply is saving lives.”
