2021-22: Wayne Vallerie

We invited our campus community to join us in constructing a traditional birch bark canoe

October 11th - October 29th, 2021. See Mino-giizhig, his team, and Northwestern students and faculty work on the canoe and partake in a ceremonial launch on our news page.

Students in Professor Loew's Native American Environmental Issues and the Media (Journalism 367) showcase CNAIR's Indigenous Artist-in-Residence, Wayne Valliere’s work through a wide variety of mediums on the website "These Canoes Carry Culture" linked in the side bar, and also can be found here. From interactive web design to a short video documentary to written articles – the students embraced many different facets of journalism in order to tell the story.

About the Artist:

Wayne Valliere /Mino-giizhig (Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe), is a recipient of 2020's National Heritage Fellowship.  Mino-giizhig is a well-respected birchbark canoe builder and artist in the community. Chosen to be a culture bearer by his elders, Valliere is skilled in many cultural art practices and also works in several traditional art forms such as regalia making, basketry, pipe making, drum making, and the crafting of hunting tools, traps, lodges, snowshoes, and cradleboards. According to Valliere, "The greatest blessing I have as a Native artist is having the opportunity to be in the forest harvesting materials. It keeps me in balance with her as well as remembering the teachings of my elders."