Biography:
Sean Michael Couchie is a self-taught artist who has had an interest in art since early childhood and later formalized his craft with a degree in Advertising Art from Fanshawe College in 1991. Sean is a member of the Nipissing Band of Ojibways. He considers winning the Peace Hills Trust Native Arts Contests in 1992, 1996 and again in 2002 as major contributors to his success as a First Nations artist. In 2007 the Bravo and APTN networks aired a documentary entitled “From the Spirit” featuring the life and works of Sean Couchie. Sean is an artist and illustrator who enjoys a diversity of different media, working in oils, acrylics, graphite, airbrush, pen and ink, scratchboard, and woodburning for his work. He makes his home in London, Ontario with his wife and two daughters.
Statement:
First Nation People believe the Creator sent them a companion in the form of a wolf, and they became a brotherhood. The Creator told them, “What happens to one of you shall happen to the other, each will be feared, respected, and misunderstood.”
The lives of the First Nation Peoples and wolves are parallel, suffering similar fates, with lost lands, persecution, and pushed close to destruction.
Ojibwe people see the wolf as a sentient being, a relative, and an educator. The wolf teaches lessons about perseverance, cooperation, and value of family units.