Return to: Paintings
Waabmik Nibwaakaawin
(White Beaver Wisdom)
Acrylic on Canvas
18" x 24" inches
2016
Wisdom was the first gift given to the Anishinaabek by the Seven Grandfathers. To cherish knowledge is to know wisdom. Wisdom is represented by amik, the beaver.
One day Nanboozhoo was hunting the giant white beaver Waabmik. Transforming himself into a giant, Nanaboozhoo had chased the chief of the beavers from the western end of Lake Superior all the way to Georgian Bay. Having done this, Waabmik was thoroughly exhausted and had crawled halfway out of the water along the shoreline and turned himself into a stone to camouflage himself from Nanaboozhoo.
After spending many hours trying to find Waabmik, Nanaboozhoo began to hit the land with his war club. By doing this he had shattered the land into a maze of islands. These islands now exist today along the shoreline of Georgian Bay. Nanaboozhoo never did find Waabmik and still to this day you can still see him three miles north of Par