Jay Bell Redbird & Rolf Bouman Art Collaboration
The collaboration between Ojibway artist Jay Bell Redbird and Friends United founder and photographer Rolf Bouman brings together photography and painting. Using photographs taken by Rolf as the visual foundation, Jay added his distinctive painted imagery, creating works in which photographic wildlife and artistic interpretation become part of the same composition.
Together, they developed approximately 40 collaborative works, several of which are shown here and others displayed at the Friends United International Convention Centre in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
The Artists Behind the Collaboration
Jay Bell Redbird
Jay Bell Redbird is an Ojibway painter whose work is shaped by stories, cultural teachings, animal imagery and vibrant colour. His artistic development was influenced by artists including Norval Morrisseau, Leland Bell and his father, Duke Redbird. Jay met Rolf Bouman in 2012 and later developed several artistic collaborations connected with Friends United.
Learn more about Jay Bell Redbird and his artwork on his Friends United artist page.
Rolf Bouman
Rolf Bouman is the founder of Friends United and a longtime photographer with a particular interest in wildlife and the natural environment. His photographs provided the visual foundation for this collaboration with Jay Bell Redbird.
After seeing Rolf’s detailed wildlife photography, Jay suggested combining the photographs with his own painted imagery. The idea developed into an extensive body of collaborative work.
Collaborative Paintings
These collaborative works combine wildlife and nature photographs by Rolf Bouman with painted imagery by Jay Bell Redbird. Jay used the photographic subjects as a foundation for his own artistic interpretation, introducing colour, symbolic forms and visual storytelling around and within the original imagery.
The resulting works bring two visual approaches together: the detail of wildlife photography and Jay’s expressive painting style.
Collaboration & Legacy
The collaboration between Jay Bell Redbird and Rolf Bouman developed into approximately 40 works and became one of the ways photography and painting were brought together through Friends United. Many of these pieces remain part of the art connected with Friends United and are displayed at the Friends United International Convention Centre.
Rolf Bouman’s photography has also provided inspiration for another Friends United collaboration. Artist Charles Chisholm created paintings based on photographs taken by Rolf, establishing a different artistic interpretation of photographic source material.
Together, these collaborations show how a photograph can become the starting point for a new work while allowing each artist to retain an individual visual language.