The Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College (KBOCC), the NMU Center for Native American Studies, and the NMU School of Art and Design received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in order to present the Great Lakes Indigenous art, education, and healing project (GLIAEH). Due to intensity of art projects and limited resources, the GLIAEH project is open to only four Ojibwa students from KBOCC and only four American Indian students from NMU.
Miigwech/Thank you all for the support shown for this project.
The GLIAEH project offered two in-depth art workshops as well as online workshops on art & entrepreneurship and art & healing. Additionally, the artists and participants will showcase their progress and completed work through an online exhibition on a website hosted by the NMU Center for Native American Studies.
The two in-depth art workshops are central to the overall project: the first workshop was with Ojibwe artist, Michelle Reed; she taught participants how to make a hand-stitched hide doll with full regalia; and the second workshop will be with Ojibwe artist, Raeanne Madison; she will teach participants about teachings associated with and how make a cradleboard. (The two pieces of art are not necessary meant to go together).
Two additional online workshops will also be made available to participants: Megan Haataja of KBOCC will facilitate a Zoom workshop on art & entrepreneurship and Terry Derocher Lerma of KBOCC will facilitate the Zoom workshop on art & healing.
LOCATION: Participants had the choice to attend the Hide Doll workshops on the NMU Campus in the School of Art and Design (Rm 134) or via the Zoom video platform. The Hide Doll workshops took place over three weekends. Lots of photos will be shared soon.
- Friday, March 19 & Saturday, March 20
- Friday, March 26 & Saturday, March 27
- Friday, April 2 & Saturday, April 3
The Cradleboard workshops will only be available through the Zoom video platform and will take place on the following two days from 1 - 3 pm ET. Participants will receive an email address for the Zoom link.
- Friday, April 9 & Saturday, April 10
NMU has shared virtual classroom space for workshop facilitators to share resources for participants outside of workshop times.
NMU will also share website space for the project's official online exhibition. This online exhibition will showcase both the processes of each course as well as the completed art projects and resources that discuss the project's four objectives. Professor Tracy Wascom produced a video for artists on how to best take photos of your artwork while at home with a smart phone for the GLIAEH project's forthcoming online exhibition.
Workshop Instructors
Megan Haataja
Megan Haataja serves as the Business Department Chair at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College where she has worked for the last 13 years. She has her Master of Business Administration and Bachelor Degree in Business Computer Information Systems. She serves on numerous committees at KBOCC and in the Baraga County community and most recently was elected to the Board of Education for Baraga Area Schools.
Michelle Reed
Michelle Reed is a member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Ojibwe. She lives in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with her husband and their two children. She is the co-founder of the Woodland Sky Native American Dance Company as well as a dancer for the #1 selling Native American recording artists Brule’. She has developed N8V Dance Fitness, a workout designed to combine culture, health and wellness, and has had the opportunity to personally share this with native communities and Universities. She is a clothing and accessories designer, doing custom sewing and beadwork for many champion dancers as well as a full purse line, MReed Designs Purse Co. Her latest project is the Indigenous Girl Doll Collection as well as a line of appliqué face masks. For the past two summers she has been managing the cultural events at the newly renovated Waaswaaganing Living Arts and Culture Center in Lac du Flambeau, WI.
Terry Lerma
Terry Lerma is a social psychologist (Wayne State University, 1987) and Michigan LMSW. She has been working in human services and higher education for 44 years and currently serves as the Behavioral Health Coordinator at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College. Her special interests include culture, crafting and history. Terry is currently working on a diploma in advanced master herbalism. She resides in rural Baraga County with her 3 granddaughters, dog, cat, 6 chickens and assorted wildlife visitors.
Raeanne Madison
Raeanne Madison, MPH, is a crane clan citizen of the Ojibwe nation and also carries Mexica and mixed European heritage. She is a traditional birth worker (doula), community educator, and mother of two.
For more information about the GLIAEH project, email April Lindala at the NMU Center for Native American Studies at alindala@nmu.edu or Terry Lerma at Keweenaw Bay Ojibwa Community College at tderocher@kbocc.edu.