Anishinaabe master carvers works featured in new exhibition in Thunder Bay – Anishinabek News
August 4, 2023
THUNDER BAY — An intricate carving known as the Tree of Life by the late Gordon Waindubence-baa is featured in the Thunder Bay Art Gallery’s Ahmoo Angeconeb: Man from the Bear Totem exhibition, which runs until Sept. 17. Red Rock Indian Band carver Michael Anderson’s Inner Conflict moose antler carving is also featured in the exhibition of sculptural objects made of wood, stone, metal, and bone from the gallery’s Permanent Collection, which includes more than 1,600 artworks.
“Gordon Waindubence was a master carver from Manitoulin Island — he just passed away in 2021, which was a major loss to his community,” says Penelope Smart, curator at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery. “[His] piece in this show, this beautifully intricate carving from antler and with some decorative elements of abalone, it’s untitled but we know of it as Tree of Life. You can read it as maybe connected to the story of Turtle Island because the turtle is sort of forming the base, and then there’s a tree and this eagle on top, so it’s really like this beautiful kind of pyramid that you may be able to read that kind of creation narrative or myth into, which is so beautiful.”
