Reflections on Painted Caribou Hide Workshops

by Margaret Orr

In the months of January, February, and March 2020, I embarked on a journey to Ouje-Bougoumou, Mistissini, Eastmain, Chisasibi, and Whapmagoostui in Eeyou Istchee (Quebec). My journey was to facilitate workshops that focused on the designs painted on caribou hide coats and other items of clothing and other belongings. Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute (ACCI) in Ouje-Bougoumou offered me the position to do the workshops based on my contemporary art practice, extensive cultural knowledge from my experiences living on the land, and because I had led research workshops for the same project in summer 2019. I accepted the position and it was an honour to be able to contribute to the reawakening of this art form related to my ancestors.

I was busy working on my degree show ’10,000 Drowned’ for my Master’s Degree in Fine Arts at the University of Regina at the end of 2019. I didn’t have much time to plan out my workshop before travelling to Ouje Bougoumou in January 2020. I quickly jotted down ideas on how I would deliver the workshops. I had already began preparing in August 2019 by exploring painting with ink on small pieces of caribou skin, canvas and paper. I liked the way it looked and began to get excited to teach the process to people at home in Eeyou Istchee.

Painting on caribou hide using pigments made from minerals found in nature was done for ceremonial purposes and also to beautify an object. When the  Europeans came to trade and introduced glass beads and embroidery thread, painting on caribou skin began to fade away, and many of the designs migrated to floral designs. Whereas before, the designs were very geometric, with a lot of straight and curvy lines. From what I can see, it seems the designs were inspired by the landscape, animals, plants, migration, and the sky in our region. The work of my ancestors was both highly detailed or very minimal. It seems it depended on the artists and the materials available to create with, which would obviously vary from season to season and year to year as we traveled through our territory. From the stories I read and heard, clothing, ceremonial hides and other items were painted so the animals can see them and being pleased with what they saw, would come towards the hunters to offer themselves to sustain us. This is how it was, every care was taken to be respectful to the animals, and with the painted caribou-skin coats. Even though we have no historic examples today I am sure that moose hide was also painted, with extra special care taken to honour them, as they are a big animal and can feed many people.

When I was facilitating the workshops, I had some resources with pictures and texts to use for discussion and for people to look through. The main book they looked at that has a lot of pictures of designs made by our ancestors are found in the book, “To Please the Caribou: Painted Caribou-Skin Coats worn by the Naskapi, Montagnais, and Cree Hunters of the Quebec-Labrador Peninsula,” by Dorothy Burnham, who was a Conservator at the Royal Ontario Museum in the late 20^th century. For us, we found the photographs useful, but the text itself had a great deal of conjecture or opinions that are presented as fact, when there are many things that we will never know, or that we as Eeyou people have a completely different understanding of because of the depth of understanding our own culture, when compared to assumptions made by outsiders. On that note, we have a project report that is forthcoming in an upcoming edition of KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination and Preservation Studies.

In my workshops and artistic practice inspired by the painted caribou belongings, I focused on where the inspirations for the designs come from and the reasons for them. I also talked about what I discovered from what I could understand based upon my own experiences living in Eeyou Istchee. I had watched my mother, grandmother and other women in Fort George[1] / Chisasibi, the community where I grew up, sew designs on clothing like mittens and moccasins. I noticed there was a lot of similarities between their design elements and the ancient designs of our ancestors. I was also drawing and painting similar designs when I was experimenting with art materials. I know that the natural environment of the Chisasibi territory where I grew up also influenced my work. I also think that the ability to create traditional designs comes from blood memory, from our DNA, our genetic makeup. We all inherit certain traits of our ancestors through our DNA. One of those traits is artistic creativity.

For the workshops we used ink and acrylic paint, paint brushes, calligraphy pens and goose feather quills. The surfaces used to paint on were paper, canvas, and leather. ACCI supplied two small caribou hides that had been fixed white, and the art supplies. This link takes you to the catalogue record for a painted hide created at the workshops in Summer 2019 – 2020.07.01 by Margaret and other Eeyou artists. The whole project has been funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, in their ‘Creating,Knowing and Sharing : The Arts and Cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples’ funding stream. The printed resources I got from the ACCI library. The photographs featured in this blog are of finished works made by participants, except for Whapmagoostui where students didn’t have time to finish what they started but they did continue on after I left.

Workshops

Ouje-Bougoumou was the first community to hold a workshop. It took place in the Skills Workshop at Aanischaaukamikw (ACCI). During the workshops, participants explored working with the paint pigments and painting and drawing tools, gaining confidence in their creativity and enjoying the environment they were working in. The outcome of the workshop produced some nice work.

This is a small purse made by Trifona Simard. She decided to paint on canvas, as she wanted to explore her talent before committing to painting on caribou-skin. Before she painted on the canvas, she practiced painting designs on paper until she gained confidence in handling the paint and the tools. 

Minnie Coonishish made this laptop cover for herself. She used ink on some hide that she supplied herself and sewed it together by sewing machine. She started it at ACCI and finished it in Mistissini where she is living.

Mistissini was the next stop on my journey. With the assistance of Jane Voyageur, the cultural coordinator, I set up the workshop in the Neoskweskau Sports Complex. There happened to be a general assembly going on at the same time, so I had quite a few visitors watching the participants as they worked. There were different age groups who participated, including two children.

This little bag was made for a little girl’s walking out ceremony. Her mother, Bethany Blacksmith, painted on moose hide and caribou skin.

Jane Voyageur, who likes to hunt and fish, made herself this gun case. She painted on canvas using ink and the top is covered with caribou hide and a strip of bias tape.

Beth Sealhunter Longchap made this bag for her husband when he goes hunting. She did not change the way her piece of leather was cut from the caribou hide and craftily used its form to create the bag after painting on the leather with ink. We can see the floral and geometric designs she made. 

Eastmain was my third stop. We had the workshop in the Cultural Centre beside the school. Some people made designs while some people visited. One young girl came after school to paint on paper.  On the last day of the workshop, we had a feast of moose, fish, and ptarmigan.

This three foot long banner was painted on canvas by three sisters: Florrie Mayappo, Ena Weapenicappo, and Kathleen Whiskeychan. I helped a bit. We made it to hang on their tent door. The design is an old one found in the book, “To Please the Caribou.” It was nice to sit around the table and paint together.

Chisasibi is the place I come from and it was nice to be back there. We had the workshop in the Parish Hall. Some midwives who were training and working in Chisasibi also participated. Two children also came and very quickly picked up the concept of the designs and painted some on paper. Two men came to make something, one a small banner and the other painted on his hunting coat.

This small bag was made by one of the older midwives, and I unfortunately don’t remember her name. She used ink to paint on caribou hide. She said this was here first time working with leather. She did practice painting on paper first.

After the workshop in the Parish Hall was done, I went to the Cultural Camp to look for people who were not able to come to the workshop. I was in luck, I found two people, Janie and Charlie Pepabano, who were waiting for their stretched raw caribou hide to freeze so they could scrape it. I showed them designs from the written texts and the projects I was working on. They tried painting on paper and small pieces of caribou hide until it was time for them to scrape the frozen caribou hide. 

Janie and Charlie Pepabano were at the Cultural Camp and were very interested in trying out the inks. They tried painting on paper and caribou hide. They found the hide absorbed the ink very well. It would have been nice to spend more time with them as they shared some knowledge and stories about caribou and the past while we were sitting around the table – this is when stories and our traditional knowledge typically get passed on, in the kitchen, or while doing activities on the land. 

Whapmagoostui, the only fly in community in Eeyou Istchee, is one place I hadn’t been to since 1977. I was surprised how much the place grew in size and population. The workshop was at Badabin Eeyou School  with the secondary level students in the Cree Culture/Language classroom. The teacher of the classroom was Louisa George, who had also attended the research workshops in Summer 2019. She had some pictures of traditional Cree subject matter that I used to show the students how the ancient designs could be related to things in the pictures. While working, the students often asked Louisa for the correct way to say words in Cree that related to what they were learning about the caribou, the land, the language, etc. I found out that the students are able to write whole essays in Cree.  Every time they came in the classroom, they were eager and started to work right away. But, because of the schedule of secondary school, students did not have the time to finish their projects in one week but they planned to complete them after I left.

Most Badabin Eeyou School students chose to first draw their designs on paper and then transfer them onto canvas. Some students expressed their choice to make their designs on canvas until they feel confident enough to be able to make them on caribou hide. They liked to use their names in their designs.

We had planned to do one final workshop at the hotel in Montreal where Cree patients and their families stay when they are there for health care than cannot be provided in the region. Unfortunately this was around the same time as the pandemic lock down starting in mid March, so we have had to postpone this workshop. It was at this point that I returned to Ouje Bougoumou, where I sheltered during the lockdown. During that time, I explored the area around Ouje and found minerals and other organic materials for my pigment experiments I wrote about in my previous blog, Making Paint Pigments.

My Samples

When I teach art, I like to show participants sample of my work so they have a general idea of what a work in progress and finished work looks like. This is to help them generate their own ideas.

Below are samples of things I made for the painted caribou hide workshops.

These are two different painted canvas gun cases. I used ink to paint with and both sides of the gun cases have the same design. One is sewn together with a sewing machine and the other is sewn by hand. One of these is now in the collections of Aanischaaukamikw – 2020.06.01

This is a completed painted caribou-skin bag. I used ink to paint with. I gifted this to the Whapmagoostui cultural coordinator, Joe Einish, who participated in the summer 2019 research workshops and now works as the Cultural Coordinator. Joe is Naskapi and his mother made painted caribou coats in the past, one of which they think was purchased by a museum but we have not been able to locate it yet. 

This is a work in progress sample of a painted canvas bag that has yet to be sewn together. I used ink to paint with.

After the workshops were completed, I made these children’s mittens out of moose hide, and used ink to paint with. The white trim and fringes are caribou hide. These mittens are now in the collections of Aanischaaukamikw – 2020.06.02 ab

For more about Margaret’s art, please see this article in Nation magazine.

[1] Fort George was relocated in the 1980s to the current location of Chisasibi because of fears of flooding from a hydro electric dam.

 

Building on My Skill Sets: Life as an Intern September 2019-February 2020

My Young Canada Works internship with Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute (ACCI) as the Collection Assistant was filled with many different kinds of scholarship and opportunities to learn a variety of new things on the job. It has been an amazing opportunity getting to work with different staff members and learn from them; not only about the jobs they do but about the wonderful community of Ouje Bougoumou.

Being a member of the Collections team meant we had to design and build a display stand for My Grandmother’s Garden, a large framed artwork on loan to the museum from Flora Weistche of Waskaganish. This project was one of these skills building moments. The project was a labour of love and a group effort between the Conservator, the Registrar, the Programs Director and the Facilities Director. Each person had different idea and concerns and we all came together to create a sensible, sturdy and safe stand to support the artwork. This was an excellent demonstration to me of the types of teamwork that are required in museums.  Personally, it was a chance to work on my power tool skills and brush up on my math abilities to make sure everything lined up. 

Building the stand for My Grandmother’s Garden by Flora Weistche. I’m holding the support board while Jessica MacLean drills the board into place.  Photograph by Melanie Banks.

My Grandmother’s Garden, on completed stand in the entrance area of Aanischaaukamikw. Photograph by Chanelle Fabbri.

Over my 19 weeks of being an intern, I had a chance to work independently on a couple of projects, one of which was constructing mounts for the many snowshoes in the museum’s collection. Space in the secure storage area is at a premium, so it is paramount that all available space is used to its greatest potential. 

As of 2020, Aanischaaukamikw has over 30 pairs of unique, hand made snowshoes in the collection, many of which have come in with details about their makers and the specific details of how they were made, like the type of wood and sinews used. But for collections management, snowshoes are one of the worst culprits for occupying horizontal space on shelves but leaving plenty of vertical available above them. In order to fix this problem, I made mounts and spacers so two sets of snowshoes can be stacked on top of each other, without putting any pressure on the lower pair, therefore occupying space that was previously home to only one set of snowshoes. Aanischaaukamikw is well on their way to having the world’s largest Eeyou snowshoe collection, so more storage solutions will be needed in the coming years. 

I’m placing a mount on a pair of snowshoes. Photograph by Melanie Banks.

To see more snowshoes be sure to check out the online database:   cree.minisisinc.com

Not all of my work tasks were hands on with collections, some tasks were procedural. For example, I was given the opportunity to do much needed updates to the photography procedure document. I expanded this document to provide detailed instructions for any staff member or intern on how to photograph and organize the digital files for any object / belonging in the ACCI collections. This document will provide continuity to all future collections photography, to make sure there is consistency in file naming and where to locate the files. Part of this process included experimenting with how to take photographs that are very crisp and detailed, so that they can be used for multiple purposes in the future. 

My favorite part of my 19 weeks with ACCI was the ability to work with and learn from different people and departments of the cultural centre. Living in Ouje Bougoumou over the winter was  a bit of an adjustment from where I grew up, in southern Ontario, but it was a very  positive experience overall. I would encourage museums studies students to think of ACCI when looking for an internship opportunity, because it is a unique and special place to immerse yourself in Eeyou culture.   

By: Chanelle Fabbri, YCW Collections Intern 2019-2020

My Life as a Digitization Technician in Eeyou Istchee

Kory at work doing digitization

As a digitization technician at Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institution, my primary task is essentially to preserve material from the archives and convert each original file into a digital file.

VHS tapes that need to be digitised

From a profusion of textual documentation to old school playable video and audio formats, this is a pivotal position.

Since I’ve started working at Aanischaaukamikw*, I have had the liberty to access materials and dissect its information. Being part in the preserving process is imperative. Some of the collection requires an extensive amount of care, which makes working at a museum ideal.

Learning to fix a VHS tape so it could be digitized

For instance, one of my practices is analyzing audio and video formats. This is the essential part before inserting any playable formats into a device. If a format is not analyzed, it can be detrimental to our equipment. With that said, acquiring or requiring equipment to our digitization department isn’t as easy as it sounds. 

Equipment we use to digitize 

Firstly, we need to assess used and/or discontinued devices, of which requires specificity on the conditional state of equipment we may be investing. However, we do accept donations on certain types of equipment to advance our department.

Aside from only digitizing materials, digitized files are then transferred to a database, which can be made accessible to a search engine (cree.minisisinc.com). It is basically history on our fingertips. 
With that in mind, it is the most convenient tool for researchers or for a curious mind. Each file holds a significant part of history.

Some of the archives waiting for digitization

The content will only expand as we continually digitize and catalogue the material that’s been donated. 

If you think you may have something valuable culturally, do not hesitant to contact Aanischaaukamikw. We’d be happy to hear from you.

At this point in my tenure, I’ve only scratched its surface. 

As a Cree person, I am intrigued to acquire and learn more information as I continue to preserve what lies in the archives. It is what entices me to play my part in a significant role as a digitization technician.

More digitization equipment

Kory Saganash, Digitization Technician

*Project funded by Library & Archives Canada, Documentary Heritage Communities Program and Listen, Hear Our Voices

My internship in the Collections department at Aanischaaukamikw Cree Cultural Institute, 2018

By: Camille Crevier-Lalonde

My work as an intern as part of my course in applied museology at Montmorency College often consist of solving problems to support and display objects that may have specific requirements or restrictions. Making a mount is always about the condition of the object, the center of gravity and the structural stability of the object.

During my internship I had the occasion of making storage mounts for a variety of objects, some of them representing more of a challenge than others. My favourite mount making experience was with child’s pants worn during a walking out ceremony.

 

On loan from Trifona Simard, SIMARD-2016-2

  

The first step was to construct padding for the leather pants. Measurements had to be taken for sewing small pads of synthetic fabric (Tyvek- high density polyethylene material padded with polyester fibers). The padding is useful for the object : the weight of the leather is distributed equally on the padding, causing less stress on the object and maintaining the fabric in a position that resemble the natural position of the object before it came on loan.

From the perspective of conservation, organic collections are the most fragile material types in a museum. Light, temperature/humidity variations and insects may deteriorate any leather object: that is why it is important to use stable materials and non-acid fibers (like Tyvek) that will keep the objects from deteriorating.

As an intern, I learned that the objects do not always need as much support as we would think. Additions of material may cause stress on a fragile object. Some leather ornaments, such as leather fringes, can be hard to present directly on a mount, because they are made of a malleable fabric. Sometimes, the object is a good mount in itself for these ornaments. In the picture below, we can see that the pants are supporting the fringes well.

The second step was to construct a tray for supporting the object in storage. The pants were installed on a rigid support, consisting of non-acidic Hollinger board, covered with a layer of microfoam and acid free cotton fabric. The fabric had been pinned to adjust equally the tension of the textile on the mount, then taped at the back of the board, with acid free tape. The pants were held in place on the board with cotton ribbons.

This Hollinger board provided an easy way of supporting the pants in storage; the pants can now be observed without any movement of the object itself, which is good for the prevention of any damage during storage.

Attending the 2019 SICC ē-micimināyakik Gathering by Annie Bosum

Attending the 2019 SICC ē-micimināyakik Gathering by Annie Bosum

I had the honour to attend the 2019 SICC ē-micimināyakikGathering hosted by the Saskatchewan Indigenous Cultural Centre in Saskatoon May 2-3, 2019. There, I presented the Brian Deer Classification System, which we are using in the Aanischaaukamikw Library and debriefed on the functions and spaces of the Aanischaaukamikw Cultural Institute.

Annie at the conference, from the SICC event Facebook page

 This two-day indigenous gathering was held at the Ramada By Wyndham Saskatoon with various keynote speakers, panels and workshops.  The event provided opportunities for sharing indigenous knowledge and networking from curators, archivists, librarians, researchers and museum professionals.  It was also a great way to share issues, ideas, progress and solutions for First Nations museums, cultural centres, archives, interpretive centres and libraries.  It was very interesting to see all the different indigenous nationalities coming together to share their knowledge, expertise and their ways of preserving and protecting their cultural heritage.  Among the nationalities who participated in this event were Plains Cree, Nakoda, Ts’msyen/Cree , Haida, Dene, Metis, Chippewa,, Pueblo, Saulteau, Anishinaabe ,Cree and Mohawk!

The first day opened with an early morning pipe ceremony by Elder William Ratfoot proceeded by opening remarks by the emcee, JR McArthur, the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations,  the SICC Board of Governors Chief Alvin Francis and SICC President Wanda Wilson.  The first day was relaxing for me- I wasn’t on any of the panels and workshops-which I was happy with because I was still tired from all the travelling.  I had the wonderful opportunity to sit and listen to some good presenters on the subjects of Indigenous Intellectual Property : Arising Questions by Val Napoleon, Saulteau and Indigenous Collections: Valuing Our Cultural Heritage and Intellectual Property by Sean Young , Haida and Robin Gray, Ts’msyen/Cree.  Elegant and nourishing lunches were served both days which made it easy for the delegation to return to their panels and workshops.  There were five workshops and two panel discussions were held in various rooms throughout the afternoon.  One of the panels I got to listen to was entitled: Preparing Our Peoples: indigenous Education in Cultural Preservation & Property Law by Jessie Ryker-Crawford, Filipe Colon, and Val Naploeon.  The gathering ended with a thank you prayer by Elder William Ratfoot.

Annie at the event, from the SICC Facebook event page.

 The second day I was a bit apprehensive knowing I had to participate in two presentations, the first was at 10:30 am and the other at 1:00 pm.  I quickly felt at ease when I met my first workshop partner, Audrey Dreaver because of her warm and kind personality. When I entered the room where we did our workshop, she was already sitting with the coordinator putting together my slide, she looked at me sitting in the audience and she says, “Annie get up here, I’m not sitting here by myself!“  The audience laughed with us!  Our Workshop presentation was called: Politics of Museum Technology: Labels & Categorizations of Indigenous Material Culture.  The second presentation I participated in was on Panel 3 where I was supposed to sit with Del Jacko and Hillary McLeod who were both Anishinaabe.  I got confused with all the different rooms, I ended up in the wrong room and by the time I got to the right room my partners were a little into their discussion so I told the coordinator I didn’t want to distract them so I had to do my presentation alone.  I was nervous at first but as I looked at the huge audience in front of me and saw their interest manifested on their faces, I switched my focus away from myself to a need to give them what they came there for.  

Our Panel discussion was called: Access to Indigenous Cultural Knowledge (Archival Material).  A few people approached me after my presentation to give me their business cards, and told me they enjoyed my presentation-one even requested to send them my slides! Unfortunately I was unable to discuss the Brian Deer Classification System poster in detail due to time restraints.  I was disappointed that I was unable to listen to all the other workshops and panel discussions that were held in various rooms.  All in all, I really enjoyed this conference and meeting all the people.  It was a great learning experience- which goes to prove – learning is a life-long achievement that is to be appreciated and taken when it arises and I am glad that the Saskatchewan Indigenous Cultural Centre (SICC) and the Aanischaaukamikw Cree Culture Institute made this learning experience possible for me.  It was a proud moment and an awesome closure when the President of SICC, Wanda Wilson said to me.  “I like what Aanischaaukamikw is doing and we are coming to visit your community!