#mod-con

[ojibwe-art-timeline]

Kappenman, Jennie. “Beaded Cellphone Bag”, Cellphone/mobile phone bag done in floral beadwork by artist Jennie Kappenman. Rectangular leather bag decorated with beads and a beaded shoulder strap. The face of the bag is decorated with a multi-colored beaded floral pattern with rows of white beads forming the background to the pattern. The top, bottom and sides of the bag are decorated in alternating white, blue and gold beads. The bottom edge of the bag is scalloped with four semi-circular tabs; tabs are edge beaded with gold beads. The semi-circular flap at the top of the bag is edged in gold beads. The shoulder strap is entirely encased in alternating, wound bands of blue white and gold beads. A hide thong is bound to the ends of the shoulder strap where it attaches to the bag with a strand of gold beads; the thong is tied at the back of the bag over the opening flap. 2022. Located at the Smithsonian Institution Anthropology Collection (USNM number E437514-O).

[ojibwe-art-timeline]

Hunter, Patrick. “Woodland Gummies” Archival matte paper, 2 prints of 9"x16". Red Lake, Ontario: Patrick Hunter and Shopify, 2014.

Patrick Hunter is a 2Spirit Ojibwe artist from Red Lake, Ontario. After having been educated in graphic design at Sault College in 2011, Hunter hopped from part-time positions before developing his artistic style inspired by Norval Morrisseau and the Woodland style of his hometown. He developed his company, Patrick Hunter Art & Design, as a way to improve the homes of his clients through accessible art. The artist seeks to reflect his culture within his work so that future generations can see each other reflected within popular culture. This desire is reflected throughout the artist’s career since college when he led the Indigenous Students Council and advocated for other indigenous students through programming.

The designs that Hunter puts upon the eight gummy bears are identifiably different on each of them. Four of the bears have design elements within the spherical limbs of the gummies which imitate a bears’ paws. There are a variety of forms in which the artist depicts the bears’ digital pads. Identifiably, the pastel-blue bear bears heart shaped palms with four dotted or triangular toes. The magenta bear has upper paws which are similarly constructed as the first, although with a waxing or waning moon and five dots facing inwards to the bear’s body. The other half of the footed bears follow a more representative visual tradition as the top paws of the cerulean blue bear and the bright yellow bear have an outline or filled in shape representing the metacarpal pad with the four digital pads of a vaguely circular shape. Lastly, the cerulean bear offers a singular spiral based metacarpal pad with dotted digital pads which is similar to the paws of the green, magenta, teal, orange, and dark purple gummy bears giving the impression that they were each to have realistic paws were they not truly made of gelatine.

This call to the realistic anatomy of each bear could be a remaining aspect from Ojibwe art that is observable from the pictographic rock art of Agawa where animals were used to represent a people or group. Such an argument could be further reinforced by the headdress and facial markings on the green and yellow gummy bears. The yellow bear’s headdress could stand for a specific person or their role in society as the style of headdress depicted is a social status and respect within their communities. Furthermore, the rectangular outlines around the eyes of the green bear which resemble glasses could also be a tell for a human counterpart as facial features such as glasses are largely absent from local art.

[ojibwe-art-timeline]

Kruse, Pat, and Gage Kruse. “Ojibwe Birchbark Appliqué Baseball Hat.” Baseball hat made from silver birch and decorated with layered birchbark floral appliqué. Based from a design in Fred K. Blessing’s article, “The Ojibway Indians Observed,” published by the Minnesota Archaeological Society in 1977. St. Paul, Minnesota: Minnesota Historical Society, 2014. Minnesota Historical Society Collections. Minnesota Historical Society’s Native American Artist-in-Residence Program.

Collection Record | Minnesota Historical Society

[ojibwe-art-timeline]

Devine, Bonnie. “Letter to William.” Mixed media dyptych comprised of two panels; the first is a giclée print depicting an abstract field of black, gray, white, and tan, the second is a stretched canvas primed with white paint with wax or transparency paper stitched to the surface with yellow and red thread around all four sides with hand written text in pencil and four figures throughout; an otter, circle with vertical line, bird, and man in hat. [When viewing this work the abstract panel is on the left and the text panel is on the right.] (2 spec.). Washington, DC: National Museum of the American Indian, 2008. National Museum of the American Indian. Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Two horizontal rectangular images are placed side by side as Bonnie Devine combines giclée print, graphite writing, and cotton thread stitching on paper. The rectangle on the left illustrates a close-up photograph of a rock surface discoloured with ochre while the one on the right illustrates a white background with dense handwriting and pictographic designs scattered.

This diptych was created by a Serpent River Ojibwe artist named Bonnie Devine, entitled “Letter to William” (2008) is an artwork which reflects on Canadian Shield landscape and rock art from the region where he grew up. The layout of the diptych calls to postcards, as the shape and comparison of image on one side and writing on the other imitates the postcards that would be found at important sites and museums. Furthermore, more comparisons can be made between the image and writing as it evokes the idea that the local land holds stories within the ochre and stone that paper and words cannot express. In fact, “Letter to William” (2008) furthers the larger practice of placing more traditional ways within the more European contemporary art contexts. Moreover, as the written component of the diptych is hand-drawn and stitched components can be seen as forms of mnemonic inscription that reference oral histories, pictographic traditions, and Indigenous mapping practices, while the photographic rock imagery foregrounds the landscape as an active bearer of ancestral memory. This additional method of placing writing within hand-stitched components furthers the questioning of the setttler European classification of history and art as it places the culturally feminine role of stitching and craft to the same level as written history.

[ojibwe-art-timeline]

Ace, Barry. “MIDEWIWIN.” (193cm x 152.4cm x 3.8cm) A colourful collage painted over a map of North America. Along the top border of the image is a phrase in phonetic Ojibwe. The bottom border is a line of music. Indigenous symbols are painted over the map in a linear pattern. Ottawa, ON: Ottawa Art Gallery, 2007. Ottawa Art Gallery. Ontario.

A contemporary artwork made by Barry Ace in 2007 is a large map of North America painted over with a mixture of pink, yellow and blue acrylic paint. The white symbols painted in the centre of the map call back to the pictographs of Ojibwe rock art such as those at Agawa. The animalistic figures and human-like symbolic shapes on Midewiwin (2007) shares a cultural and visual memory as they both depict canoes and spiritual beings to function as mnemonic devices. Secondly, the mixture of phonetic Ojibwe, musical language and pictographs over the geological map demonstrates the interaction between different realms of knowledge important to Ojibwe life. The juxtaposition of the foreground of symbols against the foggy background of the map, compares the knowledge of the landscape which is present for the artist and Ojibwe communities compared to the cartographical separation of the settler perspective. In doing so, the artist reclaims space through Anishinaabe epistemologies. Both forms emphasize that knowledge is relational and that art serves as a vessel for teachings rather than purely aesthetic expression. In this way, Midewiwin echoes the purpose of Ojibwe rock art which is to assert Indigenous presence, transmit sacred knowledge, and maintain continuity between past, present, and future through visual means.

[ojibwe-art-timeline]

Unknown. “Vessel.” Decorated birch-bark box. Washington, DC: Smithsonian, 1925. National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian.

Using traditional birch basket making techniques and materials, an unknown Ontarian Ojibwe artisan built using birchbark, spruce root, and hide thong which was carefully folded, stitched and etched. The etching technique on the exposed sides of the birchbark to present a knotted-net-like pattern with small “+” markings in the open space of the net. This birchbark container reflects the vessels essential to everyday life, which could even hold water if well crafted. Furthermore, the creation of these vessels demonstrates a deeply rooted indigenous craft and ecological knowledge which values fine hand-crafted skills. Additionally, the creation of such vessels requires a knowledge of birch trees and when to harvest its birch sustainably which has been passed down over generations. These vessels show a method of decorating utilitarian devices and integrating decorative techniques which parallel birchbark scrolls.

[ojibwe-art-timeline]

Unknown. “Canoe Model.” Washington, DC: National Museum of the American Indian, 1920. National Museum of the American Indian. Smithsonian.

This miniature canoe model created around 1920 by an unknown Ojibwe craftsperson and artist is currently within the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian collection. Thus the artist mimicks the traditional methods of making a full-sized birchbark canoe with birchbark, porcupine quills, and conifer root. Such canoes are used by the Ojibwe and other local Anishinaabe people for transportation, trade and war. As this is a scaled down representation of a canoe, this miniature boat embodies a traditional and technical skill important to the Ojibwe way of life. Such miniature cultural objects such as similar dolls with beadwork and miniature canoes hold an important and pressing role in indigenous economic markets. Moreover, the creation of small cultural aspects of a native community serves as a boost to the local communities through colonial contact to today as handcrafted souvenirs to be traded with visitors. In such, these miniatures offered a way for communities to keep the traditional knowledge alive through economic shifts and preserve their heritage while allowing native peoples to assert agency over their representation and cultural expressions.