Indiginous artist illustrates Anishnabe ethnicity featured at new Ziibiwing Center

Observer Staff

1/27/2004 12:00:00 AM

As many of you know the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan is nearing the completion of the new Ziibiwing Center. The center will be a focal point in the community as both an educational facility and a destination point for area visitors.

The story of the Saginaw Chippewa will be told through the arts. We have just commissioned Native artist, Richard Bedwash to portray the teachings of the "Seven Grandfathers."

Bedwash is an Ojibway Indian from Long Lac Reserve near Thunder Bay, Ontario. As a young boy at boarding school, he realized that predominant white culture was tearing him away from his roots and Native language. He returned to the reservation to live his heritage by hunting, trapping, and listening to the many stories of the Tribal Elders. Currently he resides in Toronto.

His work features images that represent the stories and legends of the Ojibway heritage dealing mainly with the animal figure and its symbolic and spiritual meaning to the people.

The rich colors are earth tones, branching out to blues and reds. The different emotions are selected to suit the subject. His paintings are outstanding in composition as well as color. Bedwash, with no formal art training, puts each of his paintings together instinctively.

Because the turtle is his favorite among the creatures, he has received the nickname, "Turtle." In Ojibway belief systems, animals are endowed with unique powers, each having his own time for the performance and fulfillment of his purpose on the earth, thus having become totematic symbols for the Ojibway.

The Loon is admired for fidelity; the Bear for strength; the Beaver for the resourcefulness and minding his own business; the Muskrat for endurance; and the Sturgeon for strength as well as intellect. The Turtle is valued as the messenger amongst all the animals.

Bedwash spoke of a time when he was first learning the craft of painting from Norval Morriseau. At the time, both were young men back in the 1950s and Bedwash spent a year just watching the master paint and talk to Elders gaining the knowledge of what things are.

Then one day they went to the local landfill to look for scrap building paper to use for painting on. While they searched they talked about what he had learned over that year. When they returned home with their paper, Morriseau attached the paper to the wall and turned to Bedwash and said, "Now is the time to start using what you've learned."

Bedwash, while quite nervous and apprehensive, nevertheless started to draw. As he drew, he felt as if someone was guiding his hand, for he did not take the pencil off the paper until the form of a beaver emerged. He has been painting ever since.

One of the problems in appreciating Native art, is understanding the symbolism and meaning of it. This particular style-Woodland Spirit Art-was made famous and popularized by Norval Morriseau. The key is that you are not always looking at a true physical representation but at the spiritual essence of the being. It can be a person, an animal, a rock or anything else, but what remains common to all is the representation of the inner spiritual being of the painting. Quite often you are looking in the insides of the being and seeing organs and other times you can see the sacred numbers of four and seven. On the old scroll and petroglyphs, you can see the effigies of animal clans and spiritual beings. This style of art has been around for a long time and has only been within the last century that many of us became aware of it.

The Ziibiwing Center will be opening this spring and all are invited to come learn more about Native Art, Anishinabe Culture and the story of the Saginaw Chippewa.