AD First Look: Ojibwe

Date: c. 1836-42 Medium: Oil on canvas Dimensions: 27 x 34 in. (68.58 x 86.36 cm) (canvas)

In the immediate foreground on the right is the Sibley House, owned by General Henry H. Sibley (1811-1891), regional manager of the American Fur Company and, later, the first governor of Minnesota, from 1858 to 1860.

At the right of the Sibley House is Henry Sibley''s office. To the left is Faribault House, built for Jean Baptiste Faribault (1774-1860), who began operating a trading post in Mendota in 1819.

Tribe: Ojibwa-Chippewa - Northern Ojibwa

Period: 1825-1850

the world in which we live did not exist. Kitchi Manitou, the Great Spirit, had a dream in which he saw a world made of mountains and valleys, lakes and streams, plants and animals, and people. In his wisdom Kitchi Manitou realized that he was to bring these things into being. He created a world made of four primary elements; rock, water, fire and wind: To the sun he gave the power  to heat and light the earth, To the earth he gave the power  of growth and healing, To the water he gave purity and renewal, To the wind he gave music  and the breath of life itself, After these things Kitchi Manitou  created human kind. To them he gave the power of dream. As the world was new, the Ojibwa people had much to learn and Kitchi Manitou took pity on them and sent them a teacher, Nanabush. Nanabush was the son of a human mother and the West Wind spirit father. He was sent to earth to teach his people about the healing plants, about kindness, generosity, and honesty. One of Nanabush’s first tasks was to name the trees,

Artist / OriginAnishinaabe (Chippewa, Ojibwa) circa 1780

*Spirit lines, which often radiate from the spines of animals or emanate from both the interior and exterior of figures (e.g., animals, birds, humans)

*Depictions of spiritual power