Home >
Canadian Native Art
An Elder's Stories about Ojibwa Culture
Canadian native art...especially contemporary Ojibwa art...is sourced by a deep well of native legends and myths.
Art has become one of the last connections between the spiritual interpretation of a declining Ojibwa culture and the modern world. Here you'll meet some of the Ojibwa artists who use imagery to explain to a new generation the spiritual beliefs of their ancestors, the story of Creation and of Turtle Island, of the Vision Quests. And you can learn how these artists have impacted their communities and the broader societies in which they function.
You'll also be able to learn about the Eastern Woodland Indian culture that at one time stretched from Florida to the headwaters of the MacKenzie River.
Nokomis the Storyteller
My name is Nokomis. I'm an Ojibwa artist and storyteller who grew up in the bush almost seventy years ago. The literal translation of my name means "the great mother" for Nokomis was the spirit who created the Ojibwa in the world. In another context the word can mean grandmother. But the name was given to me at a naming ceremony by the elders of the Turtle Clan when it was apparent to them who I would be in this lifetime.
I don't think there's ever been a time I didn't tell stories.
In the bush, stories were entertainment. My father could go on a two day hunting trip and by the time he got home it was a two week story. My mother could have a cup of tea with her friend and by the time she got back she had enough stories to fill a book.
But stories were also used to educate...to make a point, to explain why some behaviors were inappropriate, why it might be best to choose another course of action, even to explain the mysteries of the universe.
About a dozen years ago it dawned on me that I still had a few more stories to tell...stories about the Ojibwa culture and how the world came to be. Or just stories about what it was like out there in the bush.
Nokomis the Artist
I've always been a storyteller but I haven't always been an artist. The world of Canadian native art would have passed me by it it hadn't occurred to me one day that a good story might be even better it it had a good picture to illustrate the point. I haven't had any training in the area of art. My work is sort of naive, but what the heck...it's my life and I get to paint it any way I please!
For too long, I've been travelling back and forth across the country showing my pictures and telling my stories and now age has caught up with me. I've decided that it's finally time to learn how to be a techie so that I can sit on my duff and spread the word about Canadian native art through this world wide web thing. Who woulda thunk that being a techie is almost as easy as being an artist...it's just a matter of telling some more stories.
So who I am is Nokomis and I create the Ojibwa in the world. I paint memories of growing up in the bush north of Lake Superior almost 70 years ago and give you my personal perspective on Ojibwa culture. I try to interpret Ojibwa beliefs in a way that you can hear. My tales include the Ojibwa version of the Creation Story (it wasn't a big bang!) and the tale of how our country, Turtle Island, came to be. I've even tried to clear up a few misconceptions about the concept of a vision quest.
The Development of Native Art in Canada
These are stories about my artist friends and their interpretations of native life today.
- The Birth of Canadian Native Art is the story about how native artists began to transform iconography to an emotional interpretation of a culture.
- Norval Morrisseau blasted onto the Toronto art scene and Canadian Native Art was changed forever.
- The Indian Group of Seven became the nucleous of a new movement.
- The Woodland School grew quickly into a recognizable style that speaks of the significance of
- The Second Wave of Woodland Artists followed in the footsteps of the Indian Group of Seven.
- Other Native Artists took up the cause. Not every native artist is a legend painter, but each interprets his personal experience from a distinctly First Nations point of view.
Background to the Eastern Woodland Indian Culture.
These are stories about the Eastern Woodland Indian culture before Europeans arrived on this continent.
- Overview of the Eastern Woodland cultures that extended from what are now the southern United States as far north as the headwaters of the MacKenzie River.
- The Ojibwa were the most northerly of the Woodland cultures and lived north of the Great Lakes.
- The Ojibwa/Chippewa also lived below the Great Lakes where a less hostile climate allowed for the development of agriculture.
- The Woodland Indian culture of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek and Natchez also thrived particularly well in the forests and fertile soil along the Ohio River and south along the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.
- Moundbuilding was an Eastern Woodland Indian tradition of constructing earthen burial mounds and other earthworks.
Megweech
