Ontario is represented by several Indigenous groups that spread across Canada’s largest province, namely: Ojibway, Cree Delware, Potawatomi, Oneida, Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga and Tuscarora(1). Métis and diverse Indigenous nations from across Canada will also be represented in Ontario, often due to the large variety of college and university options to study.
With the strong Pow-Wow culture throughout the province of Ontario and multiple forms for cultural events like the annual Canadian Aboriginal Festival(16), craft and design artists are a contemporary resource in keeping traditional skills active and ever present. The Wikwemiking Tipi Company is a family based business on Manitoulin Island is a skill modeled after the Indigenous peoples of the great open plains. Even though the tipi has no original use in this Ojibwe or other Woodland tribal cultures, it has become symbolic to many Indigenous people as a cultural symbol(17). Drum and rattle making are also a traditional skills being preserved and are distinctly unique as each respective nation who design the drums or rattles. The instruments crafted by Indigenous peoples are more than just music-makers, but a means to give voice to oral teachings, celebrations, and spiritual practices(18). Another skill being preserved in Ontario is Porcupine quill baskets and is the detailed subject matter of a 2004 published book written by Sharon George Quill Basket Making: Through the Eyes of Our Elders(19).
This article is a non-comprehensive and living document that provides an overview of artistic activities in the region. It will be revised as necessary as part of our ongoing process of continuous updates.
1) http://www.aboriginalcanada.com/firstnation/dirfnont.htm
16) http://www.canab.com/
17) http://www.kstrom.net/isk/maps/houses/tipi.html
18) http://nativedrums.ca/index.php/Drumming?tp=a&bg=1&ln=e
19) http://www.goodminds.com/booksntoz/Quill-Basket-Making-Through-the-Eyes-of-Our-Elder.html