Artist preserves environment - on paper

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With each stroke of his brush or mark from his pen, Native artist Roy Salopree captures a piece of nature he wished Canadian society could appreciate as much as he does.

For 21 years, the Meander River Indian has been preserving the environment the best way he knows how -- by putting it on paper.

But he wants his creative art to mean more to mainstream art lovers than just another Native wall hanging for their dens. He wants them to understand how important it is for natural beauty to remain intact.

Salopree, 36, believes his work is like a window into nature.

>From his home on the Meander River Indian reserve in northern Alberta, the young award-winning painter produces highly-acclaimed work that has been sold throughout Alberta for as much as $1,400.

But Salopree says he originated his unique style, using the three elements of nature in everything he paints, out of his own love for the environment, not from a need to make money.

"What I do comes from the heart. And it comes from what I see when I go for walks in the woods. That's why I have the style I do," he says.

"To be an artist, you have to create something beautiful from what you see."

The sky, land and water are what gives Salopree his inspiration to spend hours behind his easel developing his magic.

Salopree, who won a $5,000 scholarship from the Alberta Indian Arts and Crafts society in 1985, sells much of his work at shopping mall exhibitions and to tourists who visit the Native Friendship Center in High Level.

"I have to do something with my work. I have to spread it out into the public," he insists while putting the finishing touches on his latest work destined for an August trade show exhibit in Edmonton.

"Things like this have to be done so people will understand their relationship with nature-- and this is the way I can help."

"It's my way of preserving the world."