Eddy Cobiness, was a Canadian artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

. He was an Ojibwa

Ojibwa

The Ojibwe or Chippewa are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the third-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree and Inuit...

-Indian

First Nations

First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...

 and his art work is characterized by scenes from the life outdoors and nature

Nature

Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...

. He began with realistic scenes and then evolved into more abstract work. He belonged to the “Woodland School of Art

Woodlands Style

The Woodland School Of Art, also named Woodlands style, Woodlands School, or Anishnabe painting, is a genre of painting among First Nations and Native American artists from the Great Lakes area - including northern Ontario and southwestern Manitoba...

” and was a prominent member of the "Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporation

Indian Group of Seven

The Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporation, better known as the Indian Group of Seven, was a group of professional Indian artist from Canada, founded in November 1973....

”, better known as the “Indian Group of Seven

Indian Group of Seven

The Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporation, better known as the Indian Group of Seven, was a group of professional Indian artist from Canada, founded in November 1973....

”.

Life

Cobiness grew up on Buffalo Point First Nation

Buffalo Point First Nation

Buffalo Point First Nation is an Ojibwa or Saulteaux band government located in southeastern corner of Manitoba, along the shores of Lake of the Woods. It is bordered largely by the unorganized portion of Division No. 1, Manitoba. It also has smaller borders with the Rural Municipality of Piney, as...

's Indian reserve

Indian reserve

In Canada, an Indian reserve is specified by the Indian Act as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." The Act also specifies that land reserved for the use and benefit of a band which is not...

 in southeast Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

. Like the other members of the “Indian Group of Seven

Indian Group of Seven

The Professional Native Indian Artists Incorporation, better known as the Indian Group of Seven, was a group of professional Indian artist from Canada, founded in November 1973....

", Jackson Beardy

Jackson Beardy

Jackson Beardy was a Canadian artist. He was an Anishinini-Indian and his works are characterized by scenes from the holy stories of his people. He belonged to the "Woodland School of Art" and was a prominent member of the “Indian Group of Seven”...

, Alex Janvier

Alex Janvier

Alex Janvier, AOE is a Native Canadian artist. As a member of the commonly referred to “Indian Group of Seven”, Janvier is a pioneer of contemporary Canadian aboriginal art in Canada.- History :...

, Norval Morrisseau

Norval Morrisseau

Norval Morrisseau, CM , also known as Copper Thunderbird, was an Aboriginal Canadian artist. Known as the "Picasso of the North", Morrisseau created works depicting the legends of his people, the cultural and political tensions between native Canadian and European traditions, his existential...

, Daphne Odjig

Daphne Odjig

Daphne Odjig, CM, LL.D. , is an influential Canadian First Nations artist of Odawa-Potawatomi-English heritage. Her many awards include the Order of Canada and the Governor General's Award. Her painting is often characterized as Woodlands Style...

, Carl Ray

Carl Ray

Carl Ray was a First Nations artist who was active on the Canadian art scene from 1969 until his passing in 1978. Considered primarily a Woodlands Style artist, he also painted European style wildlife and landscapes...

 and Joseph Sanchez

Joseph Sanchez

Joseph M. Sanchez is an artist and museum curator.-Biography:Although born Taos Pueblo, Sanchez was raised in Whiteriver, Arizona on the White Mountain Apache Reservation, and was named by the Ojibway....

, Cobiness was a so-called “Treaty Indian”. He belonged to a tribe which Canada has signed a treaty under the “Indian Act of Canada”.
Cobiness has taught painting himself. He was a graphic designer

Designer

A designer is a person who designs. More formally, a designer is an agent that "specifies the structural properties of a design object". In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, such as consumer products, processes, laws, games and graphics, is referred to as a...

 who began drawing pictures of birds in sand, snow or on cardboard, in his childhood. In the 1950s, during his military service years, he discovered working in watercolour. He studied colour and composition. In the 1960s his ink

Ink

Ink is a liquid or paste that contains pigments and/or dyes and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing and/or writing with a pen, brush, or quill...

 and watercolour drawings were commercially successful, and he began his art career

Career

Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's "course or progress through life ". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work ....

. For Cobiness, the life outdoors and nature always was subject of his works. He began with realistic scenes and then evolve into more abstract work, influenced by his art colleague at the time, painter Benjamin Chee Chee

Benjamin Chee Chee

Benjamin Chee Chee, artist, of Ojibwa descent, born Kenneth Thomas Benjamin at Temagami, Ontario 26 March 1944; died at Ottawa 14 March 1977. His early life was troubled and he lost track of his mother, who he spent many years searching for. He moved to Montreal in 1965 where he developed his...

. He further developed his work unimpeded and worked with several styles, using many media. It would bring him international recognition. It is known that Queen

Queen regnant

A queen regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right, in contrast to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning king. An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire....

 Elizabeth II has work of Cobiness in her collection. Cobiness died in Winnipeg, Manitoba on January 1, 1996 to the effect of complications from diabetic

Diabetes mellitus

Diabetes mellitus, often simply referred to as diabetes, is a group of metabolic diseases in which a person has high blood sugar, either because the body does not produce enough insulin, or because cells do not respond to the insulin that is produced...

.

External links

• Seventh Generation Gallery "Native Contemporary Canadian Art Gallery" in the Netherlands, including art of Eddy Cobiness.
• Eddy Cobiness member of the Indian Group of Seven Website "Native Art In Canada".