The aim of the project "Wiigwaasi-jiimaan, These Canoes Carry Culture" was to contribute to ongoing efforts to enhance views of Native American cultures among Ojibwe youth and within the University of Wisconsin community at large. This website is part of that effort, as are our two films:
Wayne Valliere, Mino Giizhig, with his canoe. (TD)
The project was spearheaded by Wayne Valliere of the Lac du Flambeau band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, working with UW faculty and staff, particularly Tom Loeser (Chair, Art Department), Tim Frandy (Collaborative Center for Health Equity), Tom DuBois (Scandinavian Studies, Comparative Literature and Folklore Studies), and Rand Valentine (American Indian Studies). Particularly as the canoe became part of the permanent art collection at Dejope Residence Hall, Jeff Hinz (University Housing) played a central role in the planning and design of the display as well. Central to the project was documentation in photographs and film as well as the creation and maintenance of a blog page and Facebook page. These components were the work of Colin Connors, Tom DuBois, and Marcus Cederström.
Tom DuBois, Wayne Valliere, Colin Connors, Marcus Cederström, Tom Loeser at Dejope Hall, May, 2014.
Wayne is part of ENVISION, an innovative educational program sponsored by the Lac du Flambeau tribe at the Lac du Flambeau Public Elementary School. Lac du Flambeau elder and educator Carol Amour defines ENVISION in this way: "Founded in the 2012-13 academic year, ENVISION is a project-based, service-learning program that uses Ojibwe pedagogies and methodologies to reach at-risk youth (ages 10-14) and to help them return to the good path. ENVISION's mission is to create a culturally responsive learning environment so participating students can learn to their fullest potential, develop leadership skills, and make a successful transition to high school with the opportunity to go on to college or technical school. The ENVISION students are engaged in the design of their curriculum, and the group works as a holistic cohort with intergenerational mentorship rather than dispersing to grade levels or through competitive pedagogies. ENVISION's aim is to create a new generation of community leaders, equally versed in traditional culture and Western education, who will be able to advance decolonization within the Lac du Flambeau community."
Here are Wayne's poetic words regarding the aims of ENVISION:
"By them having identity and knowing who they are,
there's an old, old motif for their people:
It's like this:
'By knowing where you've been,
You'll have a greater understanding on where you're going.'
So, it's going to add strength,
that solid foundation of their identity is going to [make them say]:
'Yes, I can go to college.
I can obtain that education.
But I don't have to lose my Native value
to understand Western society
and be part of it.
I can be the best of both worlds.'"
To understand the full meaning of this educational initiative in the context of the history of Native American education, see the discussion of Native American boarding schools in the South Quadrant section of this website. Many Native American adults and elders today have painful memories of the educational experiences they were subjected to in their childhoods, and can view institutions of higher education with distrust or even fear as a result. Part of the purpose of this project was to build new and better relationships between the University of Wisconsin and the state's Native communities, a goal that also underlies the decision to create Dejope Hall as a residence hall that acknowledges and celebrates Wisconsin's indigenous heritage.
Preserving and celebrating Ojibwe "native value" in the way that Wayne describes entails in part building competence in key traditional arts among the next generation. By Wayne's reckoning, there are only three practicing Native canoe makers in the Upper Midwest today. Unless young Ojibwe take an interest in the art and gain the opportunity to learn from an established artist like Wayne, the tradition of birchbark canoe building can easily die out.
Three generations of Ojibwe canoe builders in Wisconsin. From Left to Right: Marvin DeFoe, Wayne Valliere, Leon Vallier, Henry Valliere.
One of the clear goals of the project was to excite young Ojibwe in canoe making as a practice, so that they could carry the tradition forward. Wayne worked carefully with the ENVISION students to explain the techniques involved in the building process and to give each student firsthand experience in the building. He also taught the students the Ojibwe words for the various tools, materials, and processes involved, bringing the Ojibwe language to life for the students in a concrete way.
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The project also teamed with Madison area Goodman Community Centerand their TEENworks and Seed to Table programs to bring Wayne and the ENVISION students into dialogue with Madison area teens interested in culinary arts. Because birchbark canoes were implements not just for transport but also for food gathering (as described on the TRADITION page of this website), there were many points of intersection between the aims of these two educational projects. This collaboration proved particularly fruitful in the feast that the ENVISION students and Goodman Community Center students put on on the day of the canoe's first launch.
Wayne greeting an art class that has come to see the canoe. (TD)
In the UW community, the Art Department's Windgate Charitable Foundation artist-in-residence series gives students, staff, and faculty the opportunity to meet and learn from accomplished artists from around the world every year. As an artist-in-residence, Wayne spoke in a wide variety of classes across campus and delivered public lectures to audiences of hundreds. He also was ready and willing to share his knowledge with anyone who happened to wander into the Art Department's wood shop during the months that he was in residence there. As the pictures below indicate, Wayne met and mentored many people at the University of Wisconsin-Madison during his time here. Thanks to the project's weblog and Facebook pages, Wayne's work extended far beyond the campus as well, with individuals following the canoe's progress from as far away as Alaska, Austria, and Australia.
One of the main ideas of ENVISION is to create educational experiences for students that center on aspects of Ojibwe traditional life. The harvesting of the materials for the canoe project was a tremendous learning opportunity for ENVISION students, one that got them into the forest and in contact with the materials and species that make such canoes possible. Because some Ojibwe traditions can only be passed on in context, the expeditions that Wayne took with ENVISION students into the forest served as prime occasions for the sharing of knowledge in culturally appropriate ways.
Wayne came to Madison at the beginning of the fall semester, 2013. He regularly traveled home on weekends. At periodic intervals, groups of ENVISION students traveled to Madison to assist with the work on the canoe and to see the university. University of Wisconsin students regularly came to the wood shop to see the canoe and meet Wayne.
The canoe was completed the week before Thanksgiving, just in time to be launched in a cold and choppy Lake Mendota before the lake began to freeze. Lac du Flambeau Elementary school sent a busload of students and staff to attend the launch. They brought a feast for everyone, which was supplemented by food prepared by the Goodman Center students. The public launch took place at the future site of the Wisconsin Alumni Park, next to Memorial Union. It was attended by scores of the general public and was covered by various University and community news organizations.
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Wayne and family (TD)
Wayne with daughter at launch (TD)
Tim Frandy makes speech at the launch (TD)
Wayne and Tim taking the canoe on its first journey. (TD)
Loan to Madison Children's Museum, December-March, 2014
The finished canoe was loaned to the Madison Children's Museum for display for several months. This allowed the canoe to be viewed by thousands of children and adults. The project produced an eight-minute video with simple texts to accompany the canoe and acquaint viewers with the materials and processes involved in its creation.
With the project nearing its completion in November, 2013, the project team set out to find a way to make the canoe a permanent part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The idea of acquiring the canoe as part of the art collection at Dejope Hall arose early-on in the project and now became a focus of the team's efforts.
Dejope Hall, in the Lakeshore residential area of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, opened in August 2012. The building is innovative in its materials and design, and focuses attention on the Native American nations of Wisconsin. Its name derives from the Ho-Chunk name for the Madison area—the place of "Four Lakes." You can read about the plans and naming of the building HERE. As the hall's information sheet states: "Since the Ho-Chunk and other American Indians have lived in this area for thousands of years, one of the goals for students and people using the facility is to recognize the long history of American Indians living here and also to focus on their future." With its popular Four Lakes Market and cafeteria, the hall seemed like an ideal place to display an Ojibwe canoe, a key implement in the traditional food culture of Ojibwe and other Wisconsin tribes, as detailed in the TRADITION section of this website.
The hall's landscaping includes a fire ring that displays plaques depicting the official seals of each of the sovereign American Indian nations of Wisconsin. The ring was a must-see for ENVISION students and teachers visiting the campus for the first time. Elsewhere on this page you can see images of the ENVISION students posing around the Lac du Flambeau seal.
With the canoe project generating tremendous public interest at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and in the surrounding community, fund raising quickly yielded generous donations. The effort to purchase and permanently display the canoe was realized through the generosity of the following persons and organizations:
Philippe and Julie COQUARD family
Wisconsin Alumni Association
UW-Madison Division of University Housing
UW-Madison Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration
Together, these benefactors made it possible for the University of Wisconsin-Madison to acquire the canoe and mount it at Dejope on May 27, 2013.
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Philippe Coquard delivers remarks. (CC)
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Paul Evans, Wayne Vallier, Tom Loeser, Tom DuBois (CC)
Carrying our Heritage Forward Ceremony, Lac du Flambeau, June 10, 2014
It was important for everyone involved for the canoe to return to Lac du Flambeau to be acknowledged and enjoyed in a public launching. This event took place on the last day of school at Lac du Flambeau Public School, June 10, 2014. The entire student body assembled in the school gym to greet the canoe as part of their final day of classes for the 2013-14 school year. The school's drum performed and then the drum led the way from the school to a local lake for the launch. The entire school population, parents, and many elders joined in the grand march and listened to the speeches at the lakeside.
"This canoe represents approximately fifteen months of hard work, from students and different people all over the place. Over a thousand hands and good energy have touched this canoe in the past year. There have been friendships made and there's been a lot of good feelings around this canoe."
That was the goal and the achievement of this project. By reading this description, and admiring and thinking about this canoe, you, too, become part of the circle. Your hands and good energy are added.
