Roy Thomas (artist)

Anishinaabe painter Roy Thomas was one of the most influential First Nations artists in Canada, and was famous for paintings of colourful totemic animals. Like Norval Morrisseau, he became well known when aboriginal art gained mainstream popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[1] He grew up in the Longlac reservation in northern Ontario, and like other Native youth of his generation was forced to attend a religious residential school.[2] His distinctive style can be seen in the art of younger aboriginal artists, many of whom he had mentored. He died of cancer in 2004.