Red Lake Warrior Death Song, Watercolor, 11" x 14," 1985 I’ve never considered myself a great Native artist. In Native American art history, my art might warrant, at most, a footnote. When I began doing my art in 1984, I was two years into my sobriety and I was learning things about my Ojibwe culture. And the things that I was learning were reflected in the imagery of my art. It wasn't great art but it got the vision across. I was 38 years old when I began my art career. However, I wasn’t by any means a stranger to art. As a boy, I drew constantly. I was encouraged, helped, and taught by my father, Patrick Robert DesJarlait, who is considered the first Native American modernist in Native fine arts. He was also a well-known commercial artist whose best known work was the creation of the Hamm’s Beer Bear. I was expected to be an artist but I fell into a life of alcohol and drug abuse. And during that time, my interest wasn’t art but rather writing. I read the works of great writers and studied the art of fiction. I had the desire to write but alcohol and drugs affected my motivation to do so. In 1982, I got married and quit using alcohol and drugs. It was a new life but I had no direction in what I wanted to do. I was working as a janitor at Control Data with excellent pay and benefits. But I couldn’t see myself working as a janitor for the rest of my life. I wanted something more than just cleaning offices. Our elders teach that our personal lives move in a circle. We always come back to a point that we’ve left behind. We may bypass the point and move on. Or we may stop at the point and find something that provides a deeper meaning and direction on our path. In 1984, I reached such a point. At that time, my wife, Nan, who was a lay-midwife, belonged to a group of midwives – the Woman’s Dance Health Project. Each year, they produced a calendar with one of the members serving as illustrator. In 1984, they were without an illustrator. Nan turned to me and asked me to do it. At first, I refused. I hadn’t drawn anything for years and didn’t think I could even draw a straight line. But Nan kept encouraging me and I finally agreed. The calendar was distributed throughout the Twin Cities including two Native art galleries – Avanyu Gallery and Raven Gallery. John Boler, the owner of Avanyu, offered to exhibit the calendar drawings. To my surprise, all the work sold. So I had circled back to a point that I had bypassed many times. It was a crowded point because writing was also at that point. I decided to pursue art and circle back to writing at a later point in my life. In 1986, I did my first solo exhibition at Avanyu Gallery. Although writing wasn’t my main focus, I did nevertheless write. For my exhibition I put together a five-page booklet on my art. Interestingly, at the time that I was developing as an artist with an Ojibwe mindset, I was also developing as a writer writing from an Ojibwe perspective. Both my art and my writing were closely linked together. I knew little about the language at that time. I’m not sure of what language sources I was using. But despite the errors, my limited language knowledge allowed me to give cultural expression to my aesthetics. Although it's tempting to correct errors and bring my writing, from that period, up to par with the double-vowel system we use today, I've decided to leave it as it is. It reflects a time in my life when I was struggling to learn about my history, language, and worldview of my people. Manidoo-wiwin Ojibway An Exhibition of Southwestern Ojibway Art June 13-July 10 1986 Avanyu Gallery Born Mukwa Odem (Bear Clan), Anishinabe/Ojibway (Southwestern), 18 November 1946, Miskwagami-sagaigan (Red Lake Chippewa Reservation, Red Lake, Minnesota). My Red Lake ancestor is Pus-se-nous (Bus-i-noss), a great Red Lake ogitchida (warrior), ogima (chief), and nata-gigitod (orator). His daughter, Mish-ah-kee-be-nais-ikwe, is my anike-ninookomis (great grandmother). My father is Patrick Robert DesJarlait (Na-gaw-bo) (1921-72), a self-taught, fine artist who received national recognition for his paintings of the Red Lake people. As an artist, I paint and draw what gives meaning to me as an individual. And what gives meaning are those things Ojibway. I look at my art from a tribal (i.e., Ojibway) perspective. Through my art, I visualize a particular facet of Ojibway experience. Thus, I am a Ojibway artist (masinitchigeinini). My drawings and paintings are personal visions of a tribal reality. These stylized, figurative images compose a micro/macro-scopic Ojibway Universe. Interwoven in this Universe are creation stories, origins of traditions, legends, and warrior-heroes, and, my central theme, Manidoo-wiwin Ojibway – the tribal spirit of the Southwestern Ojibway. I approach my art from the traditional concept of Masinitchibiigewin – the act of, or the art, of painting and drawing. This old Ojibway term was used in relation to birch bark drawings (masinitchigan), and the sacred rock paintings (masinibii-assin). These tribal pictographs included delineations of Anishinabe man, the animal-beings, and the bird nations; Mide symbols represented the sky, earth, and her plant-beings, as well as sounds and spirit power. A simpler symbolism was used in dream symbols, clan marks, messages, and casual records. In relation to this, my art focuses on a central image (masinitchigan) which projects a quality, or character, of traditional or contemporary tribal spirit. The white of the paper signifies the bark of the birch. My anatomical stylization of Ojibway people is influenced by father’s interpretation; this is particularly apparent in the facial structure. In function, my images represent pictographs. And, as in pictographs, in my images the teachings, beliefs, and (past and present) history of the Southwestern Ojibway is presented. One particular figurative image that I favor is the Ojibway Warrior (Ogitchida). This is an area that hasn’t been explored by a contemporary, tribal artist. The Ogitchida were one of five forms, or aspects, of tribal duty. The basic duty of the Ogitchida was to defend and protect. Among the Southwestern Ojibway, the Ogitchida were especially strong – and essential. It was the Ogitchida that spearheaded the Great Migration (Kitchi Chi-bi-moo-day-win) into the ricing lands of Minnesota – thus fulfilling the Seven Fires Prophecy (Neesh-wa-swi-ish-ko-day-kawn) of the Third Fire: “The Anishinaabe will find the path to their chosen ground, a land in the west to which they must move their families. This will be where food grows on water.” Contrary to anthropological interpretation, the favored weapon of the Ojibway warrior was not a gun, but rather the warclub (pagamagan) which ranged from single-handed versions to elaborately carved two-handed weapons. The Ogitchida were men of heart – battles were a testing of spiritual strength and personal skill. With the establishment of reservation systems, the traditions of the Ogitchida faded. My Ogitchida images are not historical depictions of Ojibway warriors (as in Remington, Bodmer, or Catlin). Nor are they fanciful revisionist images of a nostalgic past. These warriors are portrayed in my stylization of my people. The war regalia, though historically accurate, is also presented in stylized forms. The overall importance of the Ogitchida masinichigan (Warrior image) is the quality, or character of the tribal spirit that it represents – to protect and to defend. This tribal spirit is not lost or forgotten – it lives on in the contemporary existence of Anishinabe man. Currently, a strong Ojibway art is emerging in Minnesota; this art is often mislabeled Minnesota Ojibway art. In defining this art, I use the term Southwestern Ojibway art; this loose, generic term defines a tribal geographical area which is producing a strong, visual art. This term is based on the four major Ojibway bands: Southeastern Ojibway (Michigan and Wisconsin), Northern Ojibway (Ontario), Plains Ojibway (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Montana, and North Dakota), and the Southwestern Ojibway (Minnesota). This tribal art – Southwestern Ojibway art – is not a tribal style (for example, Morrisseau inspired Legend art); rather, Southwestern Ojibway art is a vibrant diversity of personal visions; it is a tribal idiosyncrasy of individual aesthetics. This present exhibition of Manidoo-wiwin Ojibway is composed of 17 watercolor paintings, 14 graphite drawings, and one collage. Manidoo-wiwin Ojibway is a generic term that I apply to my work – to the totality and concept of my art; and, to the present, on-going phases of my art. Each piece represents an aspect (i.e., quality and/or character of Ojibway tribal spirit. These aspects are grouped under general headings: Ogitchida Masinitchigan, Ikwenimiidiwin Masinitchigan, Adisokan Masinitchigan, and Oshki Anishinabe Masinitchigan. Categorization of Manidoo-wiwin Ojibway: Ogitchida Masinichigan (Warrior Images): Red Lake Warrior Pipe; Ma-en-gun Odem (Wolf Clan Warrior); Mukwa Odem Ogitchida (Bear Clan Warrior); Kitchi-Gami Anishinabe Migizi Ogitchida (Lake Ojibway Eagle Warrior); Sandy Lake War Canoe; Red Lake Scalp Dancer; Red Lake Warrior Death Song, Pisiw Ogitchida (Lynx Warrior); Kikiweon Nagamon (Flag Song). Ikwenimiidiwin Masinichigan (Woman’s Dance Images): Mother and Daughter; Father and Son; Mish-ah-kee-be-nais-ikwe; Earth Woman’s Vision; Ningotode Babamodiswin (Family Voyage); Ninga Adjik (Mother with Daughter); LittleWolf and BearHeart; Wana-Ikwe (Tail Feather Woman. Adisokan Masinichigan (Legends and Mythos Images): Last War Dance of Big Ojibway; Death Song of the Moose Clan; Onwe Bahmondoong; Odjbaa and the Red Swan; Niwin Kashkadinap (Four Hills); Mikan (The Path); Ma-en-gun Manidoowiwin (Spirit of the Wolf – Medicine Man’s Robe); Anishinaba; Anishinabe Migizi Opwagun (Ojibway Eagle and Pipe). Oshki Anishinabe Masinichigan (Contemporary Ojibway Images): Vision of the Assimilated Man; Fog Woman’s Vision; May 19th; Broken Circle; Ojibwa Medicine Man (Jim Jackson), Akoongiss (Self-Portrait). The show sold out. Unfortunately, I didn't take photographs of my art, so I don't have a visual record of what was in the show. I also didn't keep a record of who bought what. The only work that remains from the exhibition is Red Lake Warrior Death Song. I gave that to my wife. It's part of a private collection she has of my work. In looking back at my art, I don’t feel that my concept of Manidoowiwin Ojibway was overly stated. Although I felt that I had certain limitations as an artist, I nevertheless was able to artistically convey my aesthetic through my imagery. That is, after all, all an artist can do. It’s not my intention to cover my career of art here. I will say that I was fairly successful as an artist – not in terms of fortune but in recognition as an artist - from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. During that period, my art was featured in juried art shows, invitational art exhibits, and several solo and general art exhibitions. I taught Native art in schools and tribal colleges. I received numerous commissions from Minnesota Native organizations to illustrate posters and curricula. I also became a community artist with murals in the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota. In 1998, I decided to go to college. In 2001, at age 51, I received my BA in Ethnic Studies. I became a professional in the Native community and, for seven years, worked as the program coordinator for the Indian Child Welfare Act program at Ain Dah Yung (Our Home) Center. In 2012, I took early retirement, under Social Security, at age 62. During those intervening years, I continued to do art albeit sporadically. My creative focus shifted to writing. And that’s where I am today. As a writer, I am still an artist, only I mainly use words instead of paint. But visual art is never too far from my mind. As I sit here writing this, I can look over and see a pad of Canson 1557 Classic Drawing Paper, 18” x 24,” 90 lb., 24 sheets, that I bought over the weekend. On the other side of me is the book I’m writing. The book is my winter project. And it’s not winter yet. Like I said, visual art is never too far from my mind. © 2018, Robert DesJarlait
2 Comments
Rita
3/5/2020 08:08:57 pm
My husband is Stephen K, a high school friend of Patrick Desjarlait Jr. He speaks of Patrick so highly and would be thrilled to contact him. Can anyone share an email address or other contact info?
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John Boler
4/21/2022 08:49:25 pm
Thank you for the mention, Robert. I still have one of your original drawings from our first show and treasure it.. All the best in all your endeavors. Greetings from Las Cruces, NM, where I have been for 15 years.
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