By Rosalind Russell – An internationally acclaimed Indigenous artist from Espanola, Michael ‘Cy’ (sigh) Cywink, passed away late last week.
Cywink worked as an artist, curator, author, and muralist with his artwork showcasing his Indigenous heritage, including at local schools A. B. Ellis Public and Espanola High School.
Born in Little Current, he graduated from the Museum Studies Program at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, started exhibiting his artwork back in the 1970s and through the ensuing decades.
Cywink also interned with Walt Disney Imagineering, the National Museum of the American Indian and the Canadian Museum of Civilization and was also a curator with the Wikwemikong Art Gallery and the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation.
A published writer, a documentary-style video, “The Creation Story of Michael ‘Cy’ Cywink,” was set to premiere alongside an intimate art show at the Blyth Festival Theatre Art Gallery and book signing of his short story, The Adventures of Crazy Turtle, later this month.
It will now be held in tribute to his many contributions to the Indigenous art world.
The public is invited to attend his final good-bye at the Whitefish River First Nation Community Centre this Wednesday, June 3, at 9 a.m.
Cywink was also a member of several artistic organizations, including the Aboriginal Arts Administrators Canada, Metis Artist Collective Canada, and Indigenous Curatorial Collective Canada.
Cywink was 71.
Photos: Mike Cywink as an Elder and enjoying a laugh with a student while painting the mural at Espanola High School some years ago, the mural coming together and one of his last paintings. Photos provided.
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