We hope to see many more birchbark canoes built in the future as this art form continues to evolve and to thrive. It’s been a year full of memories and good friends and we’re honored to have been able to share the entire process with you along the way. And of course, thank you to Wayne Valliere and the thousands of hands that touched this canoe. Thank you to the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians for their continued support of this project. Thank you to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Thank you to the Lac du Flambeau Public School. Thank you to everyone who has been a part of this project. We write this a lot and we say this a lot but we can not stress this enough, thank you. These Canoes Carry Culture is a collaborative project, supported generously by the Windgate Foundation, the Wisconsin Humanities Council, the Office of the Vice Provost and Chief Diversity Officer, the Brittingham Foundation, the Collaborative Center for Health Equity, the Department of Art, the Department of Comparative Literature and Folklore Studies, the American Indian Studies Program, Wunk Sheek, the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures, the Goodman Community Center, and ENVISION.įollow the progress of the canoe and the project on the blog here and on Facebook.Įstabon and Wayne (Photo credit: Colin Connors)īe sure to watch some of the wonderful footage from the day below:Īnd watch the full video of the event as recorded by the tribal photographer: These Canoes Carry Culture is being led by Wayne “Mino-Giizhig” Valliere, an Ojibwe teacher, artist, and community leader from Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin.

Building upon Lac du Flambeau’s ENVISION program and Goodman Community Center’s Seed to Table program, These Canoes Carry Culture utilizes indigenous methodologies and pedagogies, along with traditional exercise, traditional teachings, and a culturally-situated approach to leadership building skills, in order to draw students to the good path of living. This innovative program uses a preventative and culturally-situated intervention to improve health and wellness outcomes within targeted youth. Wiigwaasi-Jiimaan: These Canoes Carry Culture is a program designed to teach Ojibwe youth the art of birchbark canoe building on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Ojibwe style canoe