LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON - Jewel-toned roosters with elaborate tail feathers, pointy-teeth fish surrounded by burning cattails and lines of beetles each with slightly multi-hued patterns are some of the stock characters in Joseph Purcell's world.

Joseph Purcell stands with Hunting Single Cells and Mystic Tigers, two of the series of digital prints that are part of his show Dreams of an Eastern Shaman in the North, which is on display at the OSC Gallery. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Purcell's Dreams of an Eastern Shaman in the North consists of 220 pieces of work and is the latest exhibition at the OSC Gallery in Fort Simpson. All but 17 of the pieces were created during the last year while Purcell has been living in the village.

Purcell said he moved to Fort Simpson from Nova Scotia last October to make art, to collect insects and to teach. Purcell uses his art to record his physical time on Earth, a compulsion he says explains in part why he's so prolific.

Purcell creates new pieces wherever he finds himself. He can remember where he was while making each piece that's featured in the exhibition.

Some were done while waiting for the ferry, others while waiting for a doctor's appointment. Many were made in the Sub-Arctic and the Nahanni Inn while he was waiting for an order of food.

"I've trained myself to be an artistic tramp," said Purcell.

In order to facilitate drawing on the go Purcell favours smaller formats. Many of the pieces in the show are the size of art cards, approximately 2.5 by 3.5 inches.

In all of his works there are signs of the forces that influence Purcell including zoology, entomology, obsessive behaviours and the rural, traditional Acadian lifestyle he was raised in. Six of the pieces in the show depict roosters.

The roosters point to Purcell's interaction with nature but also his childhood. On the way to and from school a young Purcell had to pass through a barnyard where roosters and geese would chase him. They're a dominant male creature that's vicious sexually but also very beautiful, he said.

Highly detailed backgrounds that often incorporate patterns and mandalas also mark Purcell's works. Purcell believes he suffers from horror vacui, a fear of white space.

"If you give me a piece of paper and a pen I will fill it with intricate detail," he said.

Dyan Doucette, who attended the opening reception on Oct. 29, described the show as "awesome."

Doucette said she likes Purcell's eclectic use of colour that ranges from subdued to vibrant. The series of insects that were painted using metallic colours were "spectacular," she said.

Tracy Redcrow was also taken by the pieces in the exhibition.

"I think they're beautiful," she said.

"Some of the pieces you kind of lose yourself into."

Redcrow said she likes how Purcell has incorporated the landscape and the experience of the North into his work since moving to Fort Simpson from the East Coast.

"I love it, it's nice work," Redcrow said.

The show will be on display until Dec. 4.

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