Artist and narrator Robert H. Perrizo will portray the story of the French Voyageurs and explorers in the 17th and 18th century at an Unlimited Learning event from 1:30-3:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 8, at Heartwood Senior Living in Crosby.
Perrizo found the Voyageurs were interesting to him as a colorful people, transporting themselves by canoe, surviving as risk takers in new territory while displaying an appetite for fun and song.
Perrizo also found a personal connection through ancestral research. His French forefather, Jean de Parisot (named after a village in the French Pyrenees), had come early to rural Canada. Descendants of Jean de Parisot moved to Clontarf, Minnesota, where Perrizo was born and raised.
Perrizo started painting in 2000 in his studio on Gull Lake. He starts the process with pencil drawings and then paints in oils on canvas. His narration, with slides and paintings, includes about 44 oil paintings depicting the Voyageurs and the First Nations' people who became trading partners and sometimes family. He also paints portraits of historical figures who were stakeholders in this early commerce and exploration well before the land became the United States.
Cost is $5 for non-Unlimited Learning members. Visit www.unlimitedlearning.net for more information.
