As a part of the Native American Lives series from the Minnesota Humanities Center, Staci Drouillard was presented with writing a biography for young readers about the life of painter George Morrison.
"It was a special opportunity," says Drouillard about writing Morrison's biography. Both author and subject have strong familial ties to Chippewa City on the North Shore. "That connection was really meaningful."
From the North Shore to Minneapolis to Paris, Morrison's life and artistic education spanned the globe. Condensing the life of one person into a story for youths was one of the challenges in creating this addition to the Native American Lives series. "You definitely have to keep wordiness in check and be aware of vocabulary words that are at a certain level," says Drouillard.
The Native American Lives series includes biographies of other Dakota and Ojibwe leaders. "These are not probably well-known names is Minnesota households, but they should be," says Drouillard. George Morrison: Modern Artist and other titles can be found at bookstores and on the Minnesota Humanities Center website.
Minnesota Reads is produced at The North 103.3 with funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
