A Day on the Lake

Native Woodland artist Zhaawano Giizhik presents to you with a grateful heart the above 23,622 x 23,622 inch (60 x 60 cm) digitized pen and ink wall print, titled "A Day on the Lake." It is part of a large collection of art prints, conceived in an ancient and most sacred Indigenous tradition of Anishinaabeg and Ininewak (Cree) storytellers.

Zhaawano's elegant line art tells his People's aadizookaanan, their legends and sacred stories — stories that were used as a teaching tool long before there were schools. The stories and narratives that are being shared through his prints are as strongly allegorical as in the old tradition of storytelling, yet they also contain lessons that reflect today’s world. Stylized in the powerful painting discipline of the Woodland School of Art, and carefully wrapped in ancient metaphors and age-old symbolism, each one of Zhaawano's art prints is a teaching mirror, instilling in the minds of those who make the effort to look in it a living sense of the unique worldview, dreams, and visions of the original inhabitants of the northern land of woods and lakes of Turtle Island. 

DOES A CANOE HAVE DREAMS?

I know this much: A jiimaan is made of birch bark.

Birches are spirits capable of dreaming

Therefore I believe my jiimaan can dream.

Perhaps one day, soon

my jiimaan will dream a dream as fluid

as the rivers and streams crossing Nimaamaa-aki

and as strong as the roots of the cedar trees

standing tall on the rocky banks of Gichi-gami.

As if powered by a mysterious force beyond,

this dream steers my jiimaan along scarlike slopes

and enchanted beaches of the finest multi-colored sand

along places filled with mysteries and lessons and songs.

Through the roar of rushing waves that sing rhythmic songs

of magic tales washing ashore since the dawn of times

Haw sa, my jiimaan will take me to that hidden place

That special cove I can finally call my home.

©2013-2022 Zhaawano Giizhik

Source: ZhaawanArt blog