Regalia added to arts and crafts show

Ken Wakegijig’s beautiful deer antler rattle was one of the artworks for sale at this year’s Sequin Aboriginal Spring Fine Arts and Crafts Show.
“I went to Fort William First Nation for a walk one day,” said the Thunder Bay resident whose parents were originally from Wikwemikong and Whitefish Lake near Sudbury. “On the way back home I was walking on the railway tracks and I looked on the ground and saw the antler. It was so fresh that the blood was still coming out of there.”
Wakegijig put the antler away for about a year to let it dry before he made the rattle this spring.
“I already sold a couple (of rattles) today,” Wakegijig said. “I had sold two previously before coming here.”
More than 40 artisans from Thunder Bay, northwestern Ontario, Winnipeg and Wikwemikong took part in the second annual Sequin Aboriginal Spring Fine Arts and Crafts Show, held June 1-4 at the Victoriaville Centre in Thunder Bay. The show is organized by the Aboriginal Artworks Group of Northern Ontario and sponsored by Nishnawbe Aski Nation and Matawa First Nation Management.
Eagle Lake’s Ruth Stevens had two turtle shell tobacco bags or medicine bags for sale in addition to a large number of earrings made from carved bone and antlers.
“Usually traditional dancers and traditional women will wear it in their regalia,” Stevens said.
“My husband does all the carving. It’s made from bones or antlers from moose or deer. Once in a while we get our hands on caribou, and I’m wearing caribou earrings.”
Sequin Aboriginal Spring Fine Arts and Crafts Show organizer John Ferris said there was “quite a variety of artwork” on sale.
“There are new people coming in selling regalia as well, so there is a lot of wonderful apparel out there,” Ferris said. “It’s not just moccasins.”
Lake Helen’s Holly Salt was selling her regalia apparel to put her adopted daughter through university.
“I’ve been doing this since I was young,” Salt said, explaining she has been making regalia since she was a young dancer. “Ever since I danced and I had to make my own regalia.”
Moccasins, leatherwork, beadwork, carvings and paintings were among the other items for sale at the arts and crafts show.
Bearskin Lake’s Christopher Fox finds that he is selling more of his paintings as he becomes more well known in the community.
“Recently I’ve been doing it fulltime now,” Fox said, explaining that his work is mainly based on childhood memories of hunting, trapping and fishing.
Fox finds his 10 by 12 inch and 12 by 14 inch paintings are his best sellers.
Aroland’s Maggie Magiskan said the beadwork is the most time-consuming part of making a pair of moccasins.
“This one little flower takes about six to seven hours to do,” Magiskan said, noting she has been making moccasins since she was a little girl. “I used to help my mom sew, not the beadwork.”
Magiskan and her husband also make baby birch bark baskets for newborn babies to sleep in.
“We do a little bit of beadwork on them and they are made really strong so they won’t break,” Magiskan said. “They’re (double-layered) birch bark.”