Let’s begin with First Nations who were the first inhabitants of this area. There aren’t very many photographs that I could access. It was very difficult to get images and enough information so I could represent this group suitably.

How should I represent First Nations people so that the images convey a sense of their culture, their lifestyle, and how they co-existed with other settlers and helped them get adjusted to the new land.  You can see my dilemma.

Their main mode of transportation was the birchbark canoe. I created a canoe with clay, underglazes,and glazes. This, to me, was a more interesting, creative, and artistic way of depicting how the Mi’kmaq traveled.

I got some excellent images from various sources - Bernard LeBlanc, retired curator of Musée Acadien at Universitéde Moncton, and some from Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia.

Fortunately, the librarian at Sackville Public Library, Patricia Knockwood belongs to Fort Folly First Nations. I showed these images to her to make sure I was portraying the Mi’kmaq people authentically

Here is an image of Mi’kmaq basket weaving transferred on a ceramic tile. The original image came from Bernard LeBlanc.

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Here is an image of aMi’kmaq woman with a pointed hat. Apparently, as Patricia explained to me, the women with high status in Mi’kmaq society would wear a pointed hat.

The Mi’kmaq women werevery skilled in creating beautiful moccasins with bead work. Here’s an image ona ceramic tile and the original from Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia.

Here is the original image from Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia.

This blog gives a glimpse of Just a few of the images I selected to represent the culture and lifestyle of Mi’kmaq people. I invite you to go through the virtual exhibit to view and read about many more images that portray the First Nations people of this area.

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