These are the enigmatic words on the matchbook, below, that I found in my parents matchbook jar.
It's not really a matchbook "collection", but the kind of archaeological deposit that any family accumulates.
Click the matchbook cover for an enlarged detail of the photo.
I had no idea what "Membertou" (not shown, words on foldover side) might be, but I suspected it was some kind of "Indian Village"-cheap tourist trap or screeching-kids' summer camp.
I was wrong.
Membertou is an urban Mi'kmaw First Nation community in Nova Scotia. From their site:
Named after the Grand Chief Membertou (1510-1611) the Membertou First Nation belongs to the greater tribal group of the Mi'kmaw Nation. Membertou is situated in the city of Sydney, Nova Scotia, within its tribal district of Unamaki (Cape Breton). It is one of five Mi'kmaw communities in Cape Breton, and one of thirteen in the Province of Nova Scotia.
Mi'kmaw infosheet at the Nova Scotia museum. Acoording to the Native-Languages.Org website, Mi'kmaw is an Algonkian-language, related to my ancestral Ojibway.
I remember seeing a photograph of a Midewiwin birchbark scroll that illustrated the oral history of the Ojibway people; and it recalled a time when our ancestors migrated from the great water to the East. That movement probably began in prehistoric times and accelerated by European contact.
Anyways... that's what "Membertou".
Yeah, so what? I'm a mutant. Acrylic painting on paper.
This was the first painting that I made, in my first studio space, in Minneapolis. It was a basement closet under "Second-Story Books" on Cedar Avenue. Second Story is gone, now (moved to Ely, MN) and the West Bank Neighbourhood is very different. I'll post a couple posters, soon, of some of my earliest art shows in MPLS.
Click for link to Rock Art linkpages
Galleries of petroglyphs (rock carvings) discovered on Ometepe Island, Nicaragua.
Personal pages of M. Van Hoek, Dutch rock art researcher. With links to photos and descriptions of his rock art safaris... which led me to "Freemedia", free PDF downloads of rock-art related research and books.
Not all, however, are in English.
Happy Canadian Turkey Day.
No comments:
Post a Comment