"I hope to stimulate in people's minds the connection we have to nature ... to show we are part of everything," said Sanchez, who calls Santa Fe, New Mexico home, but is in Lac La Biche this week to showcase his work and offer workshops to residents.
One of two remaining artists from the influential 1970s art group known as the Indian Group of Seven, Sanchez will be in Lac La Biche along with Cold Lake artist Alex Janvier to take part in the opening of Portage College's Museum of Aboriginal Peoples' Art & Artifacts. Sanchez and Janvier are the last two living members of the Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporated, the seven-member artistic think-tank created in Winnipeg in the 1970s by Aboriginal artist Daphne Odjig. The other members were Jackson Beardy, Eddy Cobiness, Norval Morrisseau and Carl Ray.
Together only for a short period, the group's work is believed to have began the movement of Aboriginal art from traditional culture to contemporary streams. The group's art is rarely showcased in one showing. The college's museum will boast one of the world's only collections of all seven artists.
Week-long event
College officials will open their Museum of Aboriginal Peoples' Art & Artifacts with a gala event that saw invites going to dignitaries from across Canada, including to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
From his studio in Santa Fe, Sanchez told the POST he is looking forward to the visit and to share his inspirations - especially with a community tied so closely to Indigenous people and nature.
"It is a priority to share my work with my people," said Sanchez who was born in Colorado and raised on the Fort Apache Reservation in Arizona.
To share his style and inspiration, however, may take a shift in thought for some people.
"I encourage people to free themselves from the restrictions of their own mind and what they have been taught what art is," he said, steering away from calling his work any particular style of art. "We are taught all sorts of 'isms' in art ... cubism, realism, expressionism ...We've got isms coming out of every corner. That's basically a European interpretation of what art is ... I don't work toward any kind of plan with my art. I just have to get the work out. The interpretation of my work spans all kinds of realms."
Is there a hope of finding and forming the next Indian Group of 7? Sanchez says there's no law that says you can't catch lightning in a bottle twice.
"Could I discover? Could there be the next group of 7? They were so inspiring to me and the whole indigenous art world by not getting caught up in the business of art, but instead making art and sharing it with our people," he said, explaining that he hopes to release hidden talents from those he comes into contact with during workshops, like the ones in Lac La Biche. "What I will give them hopefully is the ability to know that they can make decisions for what is their own creative sense ... not everybody sees it exactly the same. You need to allow yourself the freedom."
Touring with his work around the world, Sanchez, now 70, says passing on his passion for art, his love of life and the importance of the Indigenous spirit to a younger generation is important.
"Touring with shows across Canada recently, I got to go to every venue and speak - especially to the young people. It's inspiring to me to hear what they see in work done 40 years ago. It was amazing. They got it."
While his work and his guidance is for everyone, Sanchez shares a special force with youngsters and their open minds.
"The children have the freedom. Their minds are more open. The world as we grow up becomes more edited. I love what the children see in my paintings."
Sanchez continues to be an active force in the world's art scene, indigenous and otherwise. Using his own natural inspirations based on the energy of fire and water, he is currently working on four new pieces - all female figures in stages of butterfly-like metamorphosis.
"They are changing - they are water, fire, the clouds ..."
The community will be able to see his work, feel his inspiration and take his guidance this week at the college and the Bold Center.
Sanchez is taking part in an earlier workshop at Portage College during the Power Up business and entrepreneurship conference taking place Tuesday and Wednesday. Sanchez will be presenting a workshop about art and business on Wednesday morning.
Registration for the Power Up conference is still open at www.powerupnorth.com. Registration for both days is $50 and includes all workshops and lunches both days. Registration for the free community art class at the Bold Center sold-out in March.
Both Janvier and Sanchez will be honoured at the Friday night gala reception for the opening of the college's permanent exhibition of the Indian Group of 7.
Check www.laclabichepost.com for coverage of the week's events.
