Gordon Fiddler – Anishinaabe Painter
Gordon Fiddler was an Anishinaabe painter from Sandy Lake First Nation whose artwork reflects spiritual relationships with animals, the land, water, and sky. Through bold forms and traditional imagery, his paintings carry stories of identity, protection, transformation, and connection to the natural world.
Gordon Fiddler passed away in 2021. His original artist biography is preserved below as it was provided to Friends United.
About Gordon Fiddler
Gordon Fiddler’s Anishinaabe Paintings
Gordon Fiddler’s paintings bring together animals, spiritual beings, elemental forces, and the living landscape. Bears, eagles, moose, birds, water, and the Thunderbird appear throughout his work as part of a visual language shaped by Anishinaabe identity and relationships with the natural world.
The works shown here include paintings associated with protection, transformation, family, spiritual guidance, and the enduring connections between people, animals, land, water, and sky. Gordon also painted on handmade Indigenous drums, including The Noble One and Three Sisters, integrating the circular drum form into the composition.
Work and Legacy
Gordon Fiddler joined the Friends United Initiative in 2018 after meeting founder Rolf Bouman through their mutual friend, the late Jay Bell Redbird. His connection with Friends United became part of a wider effort to preserve and share Indigenous artwork, stories, and relationships created through the initiative.
A selection of Gordon Fiddler’s paintings can be viewed at the Friends United International Convention Centre in Cape Breton. His work remains connected to the artistic community that grew around Jay Bell Redbird, Halina Stopyra, Rolf Bouman, and Friends United.