QUILT INDEX RECORD

12-8-1149

Who documented this quilt?

Michigan Quilt Project; Quilts and Health

Where are the records for this quilt housed?

Michigan State University Museum

Michigan Quilt Project Number:

AIQP 94.0038

Quilt's title:

Fires and Starblanket

Quilt top made by:

Williams, Alice

Quilted by:

Williams, Alice

If you are the quilt owner, how did you acquire this quilt?

Made the quilt

Where the quilt was made, city:

Curve Lake First Nation Reservation

Where the quilt was made, province:

Ontario

Where the quilt was made, country:

Canada

Time period:

1976-1999

When was the quilt started?

Spring 1991

When was the quilt finished?

January 1992

Quiltmaker's gender:

Female

Quiltmaker's city:

Curve Lake

Quiltmaker's province:

Ontario

Quiltmaker's country:

Canada

Quiltmaker's maiden name:

Einar

Quiltmaker's birth date:

1/9/1945

In which kind of environment did the quiltmaker live?

Rural

Quiltmaker's ethnic background/tribal affiliation:

Anishinaabe

Quiltmaker's educational background:

B.A. in Native Studies, Sociology

Quiltmaker's religious affiliation:

Anishinaabe, Midewiwin

Quiltmaker's occupation:

teacher

Quiltmaker's father's name:

Einar, _________

Quiltmaker's father's ethnic/tribal background:

Norway

Quiltmaker's mother's name:

Einar, Sarah

Quiltmaker's mother's ethnic/tribal background:

Anishinaabe Lac Seul First Nation

Quiltmaker's spouse's/spouses' and/or partner's/partners' occupation:

Parole Board Chair

Number of children:

4

How many of the quiltmaker's children were girls?

4

How did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

From Class

When did the quiltmaker learn to quilt?

Age 30-39

Other notes on how the quiltmaker learned, and how and why they quilt:

Women's work, comforting, nuturing, give-aways. Wedding, pow-wow celebrations.

Estimated number of quilts made by this quiltmaker:

more than 50

Does/did the quiltmaker sell quilts?

yes

Does/did the quiltmaker teach quilting?

yes

Does/did the quiltmaker belong to a group? Name of the group?

Buckhorn Area Quilter's Guild, Kawartha Quiltmakers Guild

What are the main activities of the group?

Hold quilt shows annually

This is a:

Finished quilt

How wide is the quilt?

77"

How long is the quilt?

77"

Quilt's condition:

Excellent/like new

Applique techniques used to make the quilt top:

Hand Applique

Materials used to make the back:

Cotton or polyester blend

Number of pieces of fabric in the quilt back:

1

What kind of filling is used in the quilt?

Polyester

How are the layers held together?

Hand quilting

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 1:

15

Number of quilting stitches per inch, place 2:

14

Quilting designs used, overall motifs:

Outline

Where did the maker find their pattern?

Original to maker

Describe the source of the pattern:

Designs inspired by Anishibaabe women's floral designs.

Exhibitions where this quilt was displayed:

Her work is in the public collection of Ontario Public Service Employees Credit Union, Toronto; Anishnawbe Health Toronto; Confederation College, Thunder Bay and more.

Related items such as diaries, obituaries, wills, household inventories, or pictures of the quiltmaker:

Clippings or photocopies; Quilt label with artist statement and photos of the qult

Ownership of this quilt is:

Private

Quilt owner's name:

Alice Olsen Williams

Quilt owner's city:

Curve Lake First Nation

Quilt owner's province:

Ontario

Quilt owner's country:

Canada

How was this quilt acquired?

Made by owner

Describe anything about the history of the quilt that wasn't already recorded in a previous field:

From time immemorial, quilts, and blankets have been made by women in all cultures all over the world. These blankets are utilitarian, but they are also expressions of creativity, art, beauty, and sensibility. They represent warmth, caring, comfort, and hard work. In addition, they often represent symbols with great cultural significance. So it is with this quilt, Fires and Starblanket. For all First Nations Peoples, the starblanket is a source of healing. For the Anishinaabeg, the starblanket represents the tradition of how the Peace Drum came to our people. The Star and Peace Drum At one time, our men had fallen into aggressive, war-like behavior. Their songs, dances, drums, and dreams were inspired by greed and war, contrarty to the teachings of the Creator. This way of life caused anguish, fear, and disrespect among the populance. The women know this was not a good way to live. One day a certain young Anishinaabe-Kwe was alone in the bush meditating when a Sky Being in the shape of a star came to her. This Spirit Being told the young woman that the men in her society had to change. They had to change instruments of peace. Because the young woman would be the one to bring the message of peace to her people, the Sky Being gave her the instructions and all the meanings attached to making the original Peace Drum, which she was to take to the Anishinaabe men of her society. When the Sky Being was finished with the teachings, she receded into the sky and her star shape became more brilliant and colourful. When we use the star in our quilts and blankets, we recall and honour the teachings of that Original Drum which came to a young, beautiful Anishinaabe-Kwe and helped Anishinaabeg to live in peace and harmony and balance with the Creation. The Three Flames The Three Flames in the center of the star represent the Three Fires Society. In the early 1600s, the Ottawa, Potawatomi, and the Ojibwe saw that the Anishinaabe way of life was already being eroded by the invading values of patriarchal capitalism, Christianity, White Man's greed and wars. The Anishinaabeg were being decimated by disease and the loss of the land, which was stolen and appropriated by the British colonial powers. In order to combat this encroachment, the Anishinaabeg formed the spiritual Confederacy of Three Fires. The Ojibwe were the faith keepers, responsible for maintaining all the sacred teachings of the Confederacy, The Ottawas were the protectors and providers, the Potawatomi were the fire-keepers. The Three Flames also represent the body, mind, and spirit; the past, present, and future; morning, noon and night. It is believed that we each have a fire inside of us. This fire is the soul, the spirit, our connection to the Great Spirit, the divinity in each of us which is the Life Force, the Good, the Beauty in which we all came onto this Earth. When we sit in a circle and share our lives, or stories, or ideas, we symbolically feed the fire. This fire or flame (e.g. a candle) sits in the middle of the Circle; the more we share, the stronge and more powerful the Fire and Circle become, and healing can begin. The teachings and messags of the Confederacy of Three Fires almost disappeared during the oppression and anomie of the last 400 years. Today, the Three Fires Society works to research, learn, and maintain Anishinaabe traditions and cultural heritage, and to teach these values for physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. By re-learning to pray, fast, meditate, teach and share according to the Creator's plan as we know it, we want to recognize and live in harmony with all of Creation, and promote peace, understanding, and physical and spiritual well-being among all people. The Pimaatiziiwin Circle (Medicine Wheel) The circular symbol at the base of the three flames in the quilt is my visual representation of the Medicine Wheel, I prefer to call it the Pimaatiziwin Circle. Pimaatiziiwin is the search, the aim, the hope of living a Good Lifee on this earth. The four directions, East, South, West, and North are represented by the colours red, yellow, black, and white. Within these colours are the four land masses that the Creator gave to the people She created. Turtle Island (North and South America) was given to the Red people, the lands of the Far East were given to the Yellow people, Africa and Australia and nearby land masses were given to the Black people, the European land mass was given to the White man. We were given these lands to protect, respect, and look after. The four directions also present to us the life-givers: food, sun, water, and air; the four vices: inferiority, jealousy, resentment, and greed; and the four moral principles: vision, patience, reasoning, and caring. From the East we are given the animals, which teach us about sharing. From the South, we are given the trees, which teach us about honesty. From the West, we are given the grasses, which teach us about kindness. From the North, we are given the rocks, which teach us about strength. All things in Life are given to us by the Mother of us all, Our Mother, the Earth. She is represented by the green (sometimes brown) circle which encompasses the four colours and all that we experience. Lines that come from the Pimaatiziwin Circle tell us that each Being in the Creation affects all that comes into contact with her or him. The centre, where all the colours touch, is the Spirit, the Fired within each of us. The Mother Earth Circle represents the physical existence of all things. The line radiating from it show that we animate Beings have a physical effect on our surroundings and on one another. The lines coming from the center, the Soul, show that our Spirit also has an equally great effect on all things that touch our lives. Fires and Starblanket speaks to us about the objectives set out by our ancestors, that is, to live in harmony with the Land and all that the Creator has given us, and to remember the ways of the spiritual healings naad teachings.

Access and copyright information:

Restricted

How did the quiltmaker participate in the creation of the quilt?

Made entire quilt

If the source helped design the quilt, describe their input:

Designed the pattern

Copyright holder:

Michigan State University Museum