Melissa Widner
Melissa Ojibway
MMIW Yoke Bwaanzhiwii_on
TRIBAL AFFILIATION:
Minnesota Chippewa Tribe White Earth Band
CLASSIFICATION:
Diverse Arts
BOOTH NUMBER:
CP 27
MATERIAL/TECHNIQUE:
The 7 elements of art are: line, shape, value, color, texture, space and form. I love to work with beads, fabric, and natural fibers. I am a birch bark artist, jewelry maker, and regalia designer. I enjoy going out into the brush and gathering my materials, in fact, soon I will be in my yard (in the forest) and I will be starting my sugar bush. This is the traditional tapping of the trees, maple trees which I have in abundance in my back yard. During this time I also gather bark, wood, plants, and rocks for my art. We are given these sacred things by gitchimanidoo. This is my favorite time of the year when the snow melts and the plants come alive. Most importantly I write stories, boarding school survivor stories, that my 92 year old grandmother tells me. I love her dearly.