[SFX: TRICKLING WATER, BEAVER SOUNDS? INCLUDE OTHER AMBIENT NATURAL OR SYNTH SOUNDS AS APPROPRIATE IN NARRATION BELOW TO MAINTAIN VISITOR ATTENTION]

TANTOO: An industrious beaver gnaws on the handle of this wooden cup, his smooth body creating a natural gap through which one might slip a belt or strap. This allows the cup to be easily carried – hands-free – and ready for use at the next meal or water break.

The sculpted beaver is joined nearby by his two-dimensional cousins, along with a school of sturgeon – their scales formed by shallow cuts in the richly colored wood. Look closely and you’ll see that their piercing eyes are fashioned from small nails hammered into the outer surface of the bowl.

For the Anishinaabe people of the Great Lakes region, the beaver has long been an important natural resource. He also carries cultural significance, as a symbol of wisdom. Nishnaabeg scholar and author Leanne Betasamosake Simpson writes, “Amik [the beaver] is a world builder. Amik is the one that brings the water. Amik is the one that brings forth more life. Amik is the one that works continuously with water and land and plant and animal nations and consent and diplomacy to create worlds.”*

Although not of Anishinaabe heritage, Joe Baker appreciates this powerful connection between art, culture, and environment:

JOE: When you look at the art of a culture, you look at the expression of the relationship to a much greater living entity, and that's the environment. It's the land, it's the air, it's the water. It's that relationship to place that really drives the aesthetics of a people.

TANTOO: Often, this relationship animates individual works of art.

JOE: So they really become much more than static objects. They breathe and live and express life in its most beautiful form.