Duluth artist Carl Gawboy honored with county arts excellence award

• Flower of the Chippewa

This work by Carl Gowboy is titled “Flower of the Chippewa.”
• Flight of the North

Gawboy’s painting titled “Flight of the North”
• a view of Lake Superior

Gawboy’s painting of Eastman Johnson sketching a view of Lake Superior

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The St. Louis County Board recognized artist Carl Gawboy with the Board’s “Excellence in the Arts & Sciences” award on Tuesday, Nov. 1. The award is for those county residents who have excelled in the fields of arts and sciences. Gawboy was nominated by Second District County Commissioner Steve O’Neil.

O’Neil said of Gawboy, “He has produced many murals for public spaces including a mural installed in the Bois Forte Community and Government Center. His “Rendezvous at Kitchi Onigam” mural was installed at the new Heritage Center in Grand Portage in 2007, and he painted 35 murals for the Superior Public Library from 1993 to 1999.” Gawboy, who was born in Cloquet and grew up in Ely, Minnesota, is known for depicting traditional scenes of Ojibwe people hunting, fishing and gathering. He graduated from UMD in 1965 and taught for many years at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth.

The work, rendered in watercolors and acrylics, reflects the simplicity of life in Ely. “Most of Carl’s paintings are his witness to traditional and everyday life of Indian people,” said Rick Smith, director of UMD’s American Indian Learning Resource Center. “He actually saw the images and stored them in his brain and transferred them to canvas. In essence, he is an anthropologist of Ojibwe culture.”

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