When Shane Perley-Dutcher first visited the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa back in 2006, it was for a chance to meet the renowned Ojibwe artist Norval Morrisseau.
Little did he know, he would be back at the gallery 20 years later, this time installing his own work, as one of six shortlisted artists for the country’s top art prize, the Sobey Art Award.
Installation view of work by Shane Perley-Dutcher, at the Sobey Art Award exhibition in the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. (National Gallery of Canada)
Speaking from Ottawa on opening day of the 2026 Sobey exhibition, Perley-Dutcher recalled how he came to meet the celebrated artist 20 years before.
Perley-Dutcher was living in Ottawa, co-ordinating youth programming at an Indigenous health centre.
Morrisseau was at the National Gallery to launch a retrospective exhibition of his work, the first ever put on by the gallery for an Indigenous artist.
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A Wolastoqey artist is representing Atlantic Canada as one of six finalists for the Sobey Art Award. Shane Perley-Dutcher combines traditional and contemporary techniques in his work.
Perley-Dutcher was invited to bring a group of young people to meet Copper Thunderbird, as Morrisseau was also known.
“Of course, they had no idea who he was,” said Perley-Dutcher.
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