Churinga Form

1987

George Morrison Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, 1919 - 2000

On View

Native American, Level 1, South Wing

Image Only Image + Details All Images High Resolution TIFF Metadata

About the Artwork

Please note: This section is empty
Markings

Please note: This section is empty

This section contains information about signatures, inscriptions and/or markings an object may have.
Provenance

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance is a record of an object's ownership. We are continually researching and updating this information to show a more accurate record and to ensure that this object was ethically and legally obtained.

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance page
Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest Feedback
Catalogue Raisonné

Please note: This section is empty

A catalogue raisonné is an annotated listing of artworks created by an artist across different media.
Credit Line for Reproduction

Please note: This section is empty

The credit line includes information about the object, such as the artist, title, date, and medium. Also listed is its ownership, the manner in which it was acquired, and its accession number. This information must be cited alongside the object whenever it is shown or reproduced.
Audio Transcript

Please note: This section is empty

About the Artwork

In this sculpture, Anishinaabe artist George Morrison creates a horizon line by joining two kinds of wood. This symbolizes the spiritual meeting point of earth, water, and sky in Ojibwe spiritual beliefs. The word churinga refers to stone tablets of a similar shape made by Aboriginal Australians that are engraved with maps of their spiritual world. In the mid-1980s, Morrison was inspired by an Australian churinga he encountered at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Title Churinga Form

Artwork Date 1987

Artist George Morrison

Life Dates 1919 - 2000

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Minnesota Chippewa Tribe - Grand Portage Band

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Ojibwe

Medium Purpleheart and padouk

Dimensions Including base: 11 1/2 × 7 3/4 × 4 inches (29.2 × 19.7 × 10.2 cm) Mount: 4 × 7 3/4 × 4 inches (10.2 × 19.7 × 10.2 cm) Overall: 7 1/4 × 5 1/4 × 1/2 inches (18.4 × 13.3 × 1.3 cm)

Classification Sculpture

Department Indigenous Americas

Credit Museum Purchase, Edgar A.V. Jacobsen Acquisition Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 2005.29

Markings

Please note: This section is empty

Provenance

artist's collection;
(Todd Bockley, Bockley Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA);
2005-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

Please note: This section is empty

The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Published References

Please note: This section is empty

We regularly update our object record as new research and findings emerge, and we welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

Suggest Feedback

Catalogue Raisoneé

Please note: This section is empty

Credit Line for Reproduction

George Morrison, Churinga Form, 1987, purpleheart and padouk. Detroit Institute of Arts, Museum Purchase, Edgar A.V. Jacobsen Acquisition Fund, 2005.29.