Ungava Cree (Naspaki Innu) canoe paddle
Collector(s): Turner, L. M.
District/County: Ungava Bay, Quebec
Catalog Number: E90136-0
Accession Date: 9 Jan 1884
Accession Number: 013922
Showing posts with label Cree. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cree. Show all posts
Monday, February 8, 2021
Full sized Ungava Cree paddle - 1884
The Smithsonian has a remarkable sample of an Naskapi Cree (Innu) paddle from Ungava collected during Lucien M. Turner's expedition to the region in 1884. The resulting 1894 publication Ethnology of the Ungava district, Hudson Bay Territory unfortunately didn't include sketches of this paddle. The grip features a pointed, bulbous tip with the blade featuring the typical decorative elements of bars and dots.
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Wednesday, August 12, 2020
L.M. Turner Ungava Cree 1884 model paddles
The Reciprocal Research Network database includes samples of model Ungava Cree (Naskapi Innu) paddles collected by Lucien M. Turner during his Ungava expedition in 1884. The richly illustrated report published a decade later as Ethnology of the Ungava district, Hudson Bay Territory unfortunately didn't include sketches of these paddles. The models are now part of the collection of the American Museum of Natural History.
The paddles feature no end grip with straight sides blades culminating in a shallow, pointed tip. These models are very reminiscent of a later dated, full-sized Cree paddle now in the collection of the Musee de Quai Branly in Paris, France.
USNM Number: E90113-0
Innu: Naskapi
Quebec, Canada
Collector: Turner, Lucien McShan
Accession Date: 1884-Jan-09
Accession Number: 013922
The paddles feature no end grip with straight sides blades culminating in a shallow, pointed tip. These models are very reminiscent of a later dated, full-sized Cree paddle now in the collection of the Musee de Quai Branly in Paris, France.
Pagaie
Géographie : Amérique – Amérique du Nord – Canada
Culture : Amérique – Cree
Date : 1930-1935
Dimensions et poids : 158.5cm x 12.5cm, 647 g
Donateur : Paul Coze
Précédente collection : Musée de l'Homme (Amérique)
Numéro d'inventaire : 71.1931.44.155
Sunday, July 19, 2020
Youtube - Traditional Innu Paddles
Found a youtube video featuring dated footage of Innu using some of their traditional canoe paddles. The video is in French but the great shots showcase the traditional use of their handmade canoes (made with verolite canvas instead of birchbark) being poled and paddled. Canoe footage starts around the 0.42 mark...
Friday, November 1, 2019
Musee de Quai Branly Cree Replica
Back in the summer I was working on three more historic replicas. One of the paddles was a reproduction of a pole-grip, Cree paddle dated to circa 1930-1935. The original with a black painted blade is in the Musee de Quai Branly in Paris, France.
My version was made from a nearly flawless piece of spruce, hewn down with an axe and finished with a crooked knife. It turned out ok except for a cumbersome knot at the top of the pole grip which created a slight bulge in an otherwise straight shaft. Since coming back in the city, the blade has been painted to match the original. In a bit of new twist, I left a portion of the blade fast natural where the paddle details were burned.
Pagaie
Géographie : Amérique – Amérique du Nord – Canada
Culture : Amérique – Cree
Date : 1930-1935
Dimensions et poids : 158.5cm x 12.5cm, 647 g
Donateur : Paul Coze
Précédente collection : Musée de l'Homme (Amérique)
Numéro d'inventaire : 71.1931.44.155
My version was made from a nearly flawless piece of spruce, hewn down with an axe and finished with a crooked knife. It turned out ok except for a cumbersome knot at the top of the pole grip which created a slight bulge in an otherwise straight shaft. Since coming back in the city, the blade has been painted to match the original. In a bit of new twist, I left a portion of the blade fast natural where the paddle details were burned.
The plan is to include this interesting design in a future display of more historic paddle designs, similar to the one made in 2018 for the WCHA Assembly
Monday, August 19, 2019
Summer 2019 - Working on new paddles
Any morsel of free time was spent working on paddles this summer. At the moment, I have 3 distinct designs being worked on. First up is a 58" replica of the circa 1860's Woodland paddle collected from the St. John River area in New Brunswick featured earlier in this post here.
NORTHEASTERN WOODLANDS (Malecite?) CANOE PADDLE
Circa 1860
5 ft. 3 3/4 in.
Maple
5 ft. 3 3/4 in.
Maple
I didn't have any birds-eye to work with, but just used plain soft maple. Still have to work on symmetry and the grip area, but here is the progress so far. It will likely be stained to match the honey-toned patina of the original.
1860 St. John River paddle in soft maple
Simultaneously, I've been working down a choice piece of spruce to make a reproduction of a pole grip Cree paddle dated to circa 1930-1935. The original with a black painted blade is in the Musee de Quai Branly in Paris, France.
Pagaie
Géographie : Amérique – Amérique du Nord – Canada
Culture : Amérique – Cree
Date : 1930-1935
Dimensions et poids : 158.5cm x 12.5cm, 647 g
Donateur : Paul Coze
Précédente collection : Musée de l'Homme (Amérique)
Numéro d'inventaire : 71.1931.44.155
My version was hewn with an axe and turned out ok except for a cumbersome knot at the top of the pole grip which created a slight bulge in an otherwise straight shaft. It was easily worked down with a crooked knife creating lots of wood shavings and bits for the evening camp fires.
c1930-1935 Cree Paddle in spruce
The inspiration for this final paddle is an illustration by famed Canadian artist, Arthur Heming (1870-1940), who travelled with voyageur brigades at the very end of the fur trade era. This specific artwork depicted a hardy voyageur climbing up a steep slope with a tumpline loaded with a crate and large sacks of supplies. A narrow paddle with an oval bobble grip acts as a support stick.
This particular illustration was selected to visualize a description of a tough uphill portage by the canoe party in J.W. Tyrell's Across the sub-Artics of Canada, published in 1898 and available on Archive.org. Heming accompanied Tyrell on this trip and sketched many realistic portraits of the crew and environment. It stands to reason that the accomplished artist drew this paddle design from a realistic sample in the field.
My version was made from a narrow basswood board and also worked down with a crooked knife and spokeshave. Still not finished yet but it is coming along...
Heming Voyageur replica
Here are all three paddle side by side for comparison. Interesting to see that in their raw states, they all have similar pale tone.
2019 Summer's work so far
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Circa 1770 Cree Paddle Reproduction - Part 2
Continuing on from Part 1, work on the hard maple replica of the c1770 Cree paddle in the Private Nagy collection proceeded well but slowly.
Hard maple is exceedingly heavy so the blade was thinned considerably from the normal 3/8 inch thickness used by many paddle makers. Once the blade portion was done, I thought of staining to match the tones of the original paddle. But a decision was made to use a propane torch and do an extensive charring on the shaft and grip to mimic the aged patina and a lighter burn to replicate the uneven colouring on the blade.
After the brief torching process, I wanted to take some photos. Being distracted by getting the camera, I neglected to realize that some of the thinned maple edge were left smoldering and eventually revealed some splits. In the end, I salvaged the paddle by having to reshape the blade tip a bit from the original shape. Lesson learned when exposing thinned maple to a propane blow-torch!
The original notes provided on the webpage listing mentioned that the zigzag decoration was made by etching the surface when the varnish applied was still wet. I wasn't aware of native use of varnish sealants but after doing some additional research have learned that a rudimentary varnish made by clarified pine resin and turpentine has been documented.
In order to complete this paddle in the spirit of the original, I decided to try and make a similar varnish formula using harvested pine resin in my local area. Large globs of resin were collected from a neighbourhood park where some mature pines had been pruned. On my backyard work bench, the harvested resins were heated in the same old pot ($1.99 thrift store purchase) used for making pitch for the birchbark canoe years ago. The modest flame of an alcohol camping stove provided the heat.
The melted resin smells wonderful but can spontaneously ignite so precautions must be taken, including having a tight lid for the pot to snuff out any flames.
Once filtered through some cheesecloth, the resin was cooled to solidify into a block.
In a separate setup, a small shallow can was filled with some non-refined turpentine obtained at an art supply store. Using a double boiler method, the can was placed into another pot with heated water serving to warm the turpentine while small chunks of clarified resin were added in approximate ratio of 1:2 resin to solvent.
I eyeballed it to make enough for a single coat on both sides of the blade. Once thoroughly melted and slightly bubbling, the mixture was removed the heat an allowed to cool to room temperature. The resulting liquid had the expected golden colour with the flow consistency of watery honey. First tested on some scrap, the thin homemade varnish went on well. Waiting roughly 24 hours between coats, the process was repeated 2 more times.
To mimic the zigzag etchings, a final coat of 2:1 resin to solvent was put on. The pattern was mimicked as best I could given the time restraints of the drying mixture and the difficulty of working with a sticky, resinous surface. Etching just the pattern worked, but given the charred surface of the wood, there was very little contrast to make them visible, so in the end, I let the homemade varnish cure for a few days and then scraped out the pattern to reveal the blonde maple wood below.
Afterwords I realized that my zigzags were not as steep or spaced as close together as the original, but I'm still happy with the results. The shaft and grip been oiled but the glossy sheen didn't come out in the photo I took. Here is my reproduction
Hudson Bay Cree Paddle
68 Inch long
circa. 1770
Photo Credit: Clinton Nagy - SplendidHeritage.com
Photo Credit: Clinton Nagy - SplendidHeritage.com
Blank being shaped
Hard maple is exceedingly heavy so the blade was thinned considerably from the normal 3/8 inch thickness used by many paddle makers. Once the blade portion was done, I thought of staining to match the tones of the original paddle. But a decision was made to use a propane torch and do an extensive charring on the shaft and grip to mimic the aged patina and a lighter burn to replicate the uneven colouring on the blade.
After the brief torching process, I wanted to take some photos. Being distracted by getting the camera, I neglected to realize that some of the thinned maple edge were left smoldering and eventually revealed some splits. In the end, I salvaged the paddle by having to reshape the blade tip a bit from the original shape. Lesson learned when exposing thinned maple to a propane blow-torch!
The original notes provided on the webpage listing mentioned that the zigzag decoration was made by etching the surface when the varnish applied was still wet. I wasn't aware of native use of varnish sealants but after doing some additional research have learned that a rudimentary varnish made by clarified pine resin and turpentine has been documented.
In order to complete this paddle in the spirit of the original, I decided to try and make a similar varnish formula using harvested pine resin in my local area. Large globs of resin were collected from a neighbourhood park where some mature pines had been pruned. On my backyard work bench, the harvested resins were heated in the same old pot ($1.99 thrift store purchase) used for making pitch for the birchbark canoe years ago. The modest flame of an alcohol camping stove provided the heat.
The melted resin smells wonderful but can spontaneously ignite so precautions must be taken, including having a tight lid for the pot to snuff out any flames.
Once filtered through some cheesecloth, the resin was cooled to solidify into a block.
In a separate setup, a small shallow can was filled with some non-refined turpentine obtained at an art supply store. Using a double boiler method, the can was placed into another pot with heated water serving to warm the turpentine while small chunks of clarified resin were added in approximate ratio of 1:2 resin to solvent.
I eyeballed it to make enough for a single coat on both sides of the blade. Once thoroughly melted and slightly bubbling, the mixture was removed the heat an allowed to cool to room temperature. The resulting liquid had the expected golden colour with the flow consistency of watery honey. First tested on some scrap, the thin homemade varnish went on well. Waiting roughly 24 hours between coats, the process was repeated 2 more times.
To mimic the zigzag etchings, a final coat of 2:1 resin to solvent was put on. The pattern was mimicked as best I could given the time restraints of the drying mixture and the difficulty of working with a sticky, resinous surface. Etching just the pattern worked, but given the charred surface of the wood, there was very little contrast to make them visible, so in the end, I let the homemade varnish cure for a few days and then scraped out the pattern to reveal the blonde maple wood below.
Afterwords I realized that my zigzags were not as steep or spaced as close together as the original, but I'm still happy with the results. The shaft and grip been oiled but the glossy sheen didn't come out in the photo I took. Here is my reproduction
Reproduction of the Hudson Bay Cree Paddle
Collected by George Holt
1768 - 1771
I've written an article for Wooden Canoe with more historical details and images. It has been printed in the December 2018 issue - Voume 41 No.6). A downloadable version in *.pdf format is available HERE.
Sunday, December 16, 2018
Circa 1890 Cree paddle: Cherry Gallery
Cherry Gallery's monthly current selections for Nov/Dec 2018 once again features a remarkable antique paddle. This one dated to circa 1890. It has features common to Eastern Cree paddles including the reverse-spatulate blade with straight sides and the wide, rounded tip. Normally carved from spruce, this specific paddle is made out of cedar.
Cree Canoe Paddle
This diminutive cedar paddle is handmade in the traditional shape of native Cree paddles, with a small oval grip, an oval upper shaft, and an elongated lozenge-shaped blade. The natural wood's grain on one side of the blade has an attractive wave-like pattern.
Circa 1890
5" w, 62.5 h
Sunday, October 28, 2018
Circa 1770 Cree Paddle Reproduction - Part 1
One interesting paddle with an established providence is item NC0047 of the Splendid Heritage Nagy Collection first described in this post here.
Two experts of woodland culture, Dr. Ted Brasser and the late Dr. Cath Oberholtzer provided some interesting notes in PDF format. An excerpt of the writings states the following:
The paddle was apparently collected by a Mr. George Holt, a sailor and employee of the Hudson's Bay Company who active in this area between the years of 1768 and 1771. Holt even carved his name on the famous rocks at Sloop Cove - Fort Prince of Wales National Historic site near Churchill, Manitoba a few years after another well known HBC employee - Samuel Hearne. Here's are some additional photos from the June 1943 edition of The Beaver.
Along with some other artifacts obtained by Holt during his time in the Hudson Bay region, the paddle made it into the personal collection of a Dr. Andrew Gifford, a baptist minister who was appointed the first Assistant Keeper in the Department of Manuscripts of the recently established British Museum. At his death in 1784, Gifford bequeathed his collection to the Baptist Academy in Bristol where it remained as part of the Gifford Collection. The collection was put up to be sold in 1979 where it was snatched up for the private collection of and employee of Christie's Auction who kept it for seven years before selling again. It has changed hands a few more times and is now part of the private Nagy Collection.
The original paddle is 68 inches long and was likely used as a steering paddle given its overall length and blade size (34.5 inch long by 6.5 inch wide) here. My intention was to make a scaled down 58 inch reproduction of this paddle for the WCHA Assembly display, but ran out of time before the event. Since the latter part of the summer, I've been slowly carving this out from a board of hard maple. It's been tough slog on the tools which needed to be resharpened often. Here is a shot of the blank being when it was about 75% carved. The grip and blade edges still need to be evened out but at least the wood did not tear out when hewing out with the axe.
In addition to carving this one out, I've begun preparing an article for submission to Wooden Canoe Journal as part of my series entitled "Paddles from the Past".
Jan 2019 Update: Continue on to Part II of this paddle HERE
Hudson Bay Cree Paddle
68 Inch long
circa. 1770
Photo Credit: Clinton Nagy - SplendidHeritage.com
Photo Credit: Clinton Nagy - SplendidHeritage.com
Two experts of woodland culture, Dr. Ted Brasser and the late Dr. Cath Oberholtzer provided some interesting notes in PDF format. An excerpt of the writings states the following:
The canoe paddle (NC0047) conforms to the type used by the northern Cree people on Hudson Bay. Typically, the handle is scarcely more than half the length of the paddle; in this case the handle is even somewhat shorter. This may well be the oldest Cree paddle in existence, and its decoration is more elaborate than on recent Cree paddles. Painted paddles from both sides of the Hudson Bay are illustrated in the literature. It is recorded that such paintings had a personal meaning based upon dream experiences. The zigzag pattern on this early example may stand for water.
The paddle was apparently collected by a Mr. George Holt, a sailor and employee of the Hudson's Bay Company who active in this area between the years of 1768 and 1771. Holt even carved his name on the famous rocks at Sloop Cove - Fort Prince of Wales National Historic site near Churchill, Manitoba a few years after another well known HBC employee - Samuel Hearne. Here's are some additional photos from the June 1943 edition of The Beaver.
Along with some other artifacts obtained by Holt during his time in the Hudson Bay region, the paddle made it into the personal collection of a Dr. Andrew Gifford, a baptist minister who was appointed the first Assistant Keeper in the Department of Manuscripts of the recently established British Museum. At his death in 1784, Gifford bequeathed his collection to the Baptist Academy in Bristol where it remained as part of the Gifford Collection. The collection was put up to be sold in 1979 where it was snatched up for the private collection of and employee of Christie's Auction who kept it for seven years before selling again. It has changed hands a few more times and is now part of the private Nagy Collection.
The original paddle is 68 inches long and was likely used as a steering paddle given its overall length and blade size (34.5 inch long by 6.5 inch wide) here. My intention was to make a scaled down 58 inch reproduction of this paddle for the WCHA Assembly display, but ran out of time before the event. Since the latter part of the summer, I've been slowly carving this out from a board of hard maple. It's been tough slog on the tools which needed to be resharpened often. Here is a shot of the blank being when it was about 75% carved. The grip and blade edges still need to be evened out but at least the wood did not tear out when hewing out with the axe.
c1770 Cree Paddle Replica in the works
In addition to carving this one out, I've begun preparing an article for submission to Wooden Canoe Journal as part of my series entitled "Paddles from the Past".
Jan 2019 Update: Continue on to Part II of this paddle HERE
Monday, February 26, 2018
Naskapi (Innu) Paddle Replica from the Chicago Field Museum
As mentioned in this previous post, the Field Museum has a model Naskapi (Innu) paddle collected during the Rawson-MacMillan Subarctic Expeditions ( 1927-1928 ).
James VanStone's publication, Material culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi: The William Duncan Strong Collection outlines many of the ethnographic items collected during this expedition. Unfortunately when it came to full sized paddles, no photos were taken but instead, Plate 49 (pg 89) featured a hand sketched diagram of four decorated pieces acquired for the collection. The model looks to be similar to Paddle A from the display.
A narrow cutoff of Spruce lumber left over from making the two piece canoe pole was the perfect piece of stock to make a full sized version of this model. While there were minor knots in the blade and one unfortunately on the shaft, it was still left pretty robustly carved for strength. Early carving photos were lost with the damaged SD card, but the paddle was chopped down with an axe and then worked with a crooked knife and spokeshave. The thin red markings used to replicate the original decoration were made with a Sharpie oil-based paint marker.
As a bit of a fun side by side comparison, I cropped my image and converted it to greyscale. Here is the Field Museum model paddle next to my full scale reproduction:
Canoe Paddle
Catalog Number: 177305
Cultural Attribution: Montagnais-Naskapi
Locality: North America, Canada, Quebec, Labrador, Davis Inlet Band
Accession Year: 1928
Collector/Source: Rawson-MacMillan Subarctic Expedition for Field Museum, W. D. Strong
IRN: 1080712
James VanStone's publication, Material culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi: The William Duncan Strong Collection outlines many of the ethnographic items collected during this expedition. Unfortunately when it came to full sized paddles, no photos were taken but instead, Plate 49 (pg 89) featured a hand sketched diagram of four decorated pieces acquired for the collection. The model looks to be similar to Paddle A from the display.
Material culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi
A narrow cutoff of Spruce lumber left over from making the two piece canoe pole was the perfect piece of stock to make a full sized version of this model. While there were minor knots in the blade and one unfortunately on the shaft, it was still left pretty robustly carved for strength. Early carving photos were lost with the damaged SD card, but the paddle was chopped down with an axe and then worked with a crooked knife and spokeshave. The thin red markings used to replicate the original decoration were made with a Sharpie oil-based paint marker.
60 inch Naskapi Cree (Innu) Field Museum Replica
Side by Side
Monday, January 15, 2018
Historic Paddle Photo: Naskapi (Innu) Paddlers - 1928
As mentioned in this previous post, the Field Museum has some paddles collected during the Rawson-MacMillan Subarctic Expeditions of 1927 and 1928. Acquired by Ethnographer William Duncan Strong, the paddles and other artifacts of material culture are thoroughly discussed in James VanStone's publication, Material culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi: The William Duncan Strong Collection.
Recently, The Field Museum posted all 975 photos from these two expeditions onto a Flickr album. One particular photo taken at Davis Inlet, Labrador, offers a rare glimpse of the traditional Innu paddling method.
The bow paddler is using a typical high aspect ratio (i.e. long and narrow) paddle consistent with those in usage in the area. His grip hand is holding the small bulbous grip laterally in the indigenous paddling technique described in this post here
Recently, The Field Museum posted all 975 photos from these two expeditions onto a Flickr album. One particular photo taken at Davis Inlet, Labrador, offers a rare glimpse of the traditional Innu paddling method.
Davis Inlet, Labrador
Taken August 23, 1928
The bow paddler is using a typical high aspect ratio (i.e. long and narrow) paddle consistent with those in usage in the area. His grip hand is holding the small bulbous grip laterally in the indigenous paddling technique described in this post here
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Historic Photo: Hudson's Bay Cree Canoe Paddles
From the 1912 publication, A summer and winter on Hudson Bay by CK Leith comes a vintage photo of a Cree camp taken at Fort George on the East side of Hudson's Bay. The scene features an overturned canoe propped up with a broad bladed paddle. A bobble style grip is visible in the other paddle which appears quite long in relation to the person holding it.
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Chicago Field Museum: Odawa and Naskapi (Innu) Paddle Display
Searching through their collections of
the Chicago Field Museum (formerly the Field Museum of Natural History) revealed some paddles that have been part of their previous displays. Among them is a model associated with the Odawa (Ottawa) tribe acquired in Ontario for display in the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893.
Here is a cropped pic of the paddle which features a straight sided blade shape and a small elongated grip. The blade end has been decorated with paint while the upper portion features geometric etchings not unlike the Odawa paddle at the Logan Museum of Anthropology.
Also in the display is a model of a Naskapi (Innu) paddle...
This previous post discussed the paddle forms documented by William D. Strong during his research of the Naskapi Cree (Innu) culture in 1927-1928. James VanStone's publication, Material culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi: The William Duncan Strong Collection outlines many of the ethnographic items collected during this expedition. Unfortunately when it came to full sized paddles, no photos were taken but instead, Plate 49 (pg 89) featured a hand sketched diagram of 4 decorated pieces acquired for the collection. The model looks to be similar to Paddle A from the display.
The coloured lines and markings were made with an orange / red or blue pigment, similar to other model Innu paddles in other collections (see post here). As to the meaning or significance of the motifs, page 38 has a brief writeup outlining his conclusions:
Here is a cropped pic of the paddle which features a straight sided blade shape and a small elongated grip. The blade end has been decorated with paint while the upper portion features geometric etchings not unlike the Odawa paddle at the Logan Museum of Anthropology.
Canoe Paddle
Catalog Number: 15388
Cultural Attribution: Ottawa
Locality: North America, Canada, Ontario, Queen Sound
Accession Number: [47] E. N. Brown (Gift)
Country: Canada
Province/State: Ontario
District/County: Queen Sound
Collector/Source: E. N. Brown, World's Columbian Exposition - Department of Ethnology
IRN: 1056314
Also in the display is a model of a Naskapi (Innu) paddle...
Canoe Paddle
Catalog Number: 177305
Description: paddle
Cultural Attribution: Montagnais-Naskapi
Locality: North America, Canada, Quebec, Labrador, Davis Inlet Band
Accession Year: 1928
Collector/Source: Rawson-MacMillan Subarctic Expedition for Field Museum, W. D. Strong
IRN: 1080712
This previous post discussed the paddle forms documented by William D. Strong during his research of the Naskapi Cree (Innu) culture in 1927-1928. James VanStone's publication, Material culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi: The William Duncan Strong Collection outlines many of the ethnographic items collected during this expedition. Unfortunately when it came to full sized paddles, no photos were taken but instead, Plate 49 (pg 89) featured a hand sketched diagram of 4 decorated pieces acquired for the collection. The model looks to be similar to Paddle A from the display.
Material culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi
The coloured lines and markings were made with an orange / red or blue pigment, similar to other model Innu paddles in other collections (see post here). As to the meaning or significance of the motifs, page 38 has a brief writeup outlining his conclusions:
"Strong's informants, on the other hand, denied any design symbolism or any relationship of the decorative motifs on their clothing and other objects to dream experiences. Rather, such designs as occur on moccasins, clothing borders, head-bands, and cartridge cases were purely decorative. Strong noted that design symbolism was not denied categorically but, nevertheless, in detail and with certainty. While believing it possible that people no longer remembered the meaning and significance of such symbols, he also was aware that in general his informants were evasive concerning most matters relating to religion. For example, he was certain that although the red and blue designs on men's snowshoes served primarily as identification marks, they also had magical significance. Informants confirmed that the markings brought good luck in traveling and hunting, but the ethnographer could obtain no interpretation for the meaning of particular designs"
Friday, August 18, 2017
Musee de Quai Branly - Cree Paddles
Found some additional Cree paddles located in the collections of the Musee de Quai Branly (Paris, France). The first is a 62" pole grip paddle with a painted blade dated to between 1930-1935. The relatively straight sided blade culminates in a distinct pointed tip.
Pagaie
Géographie : Amérique – Amérique du Nord – Canada
Culture : Amérique – Cree
Date : 1930-1935
Dimensions et poids : 158.5cm x 12.5cm, 647 g
Donateur : Paul Coze
Précédente collection : Musée de l'Homme (Amérique)
Numéro d'inventaire : 71.1931.44.155
The second paddle dates to the same time period. It is plain with a distinct bobble grip. This one is shorter, roughly 56" with a a narrowing blade that shows signs of edge damage from use.
Pagaie
Géographie : Amérique – Amérique du Nord – Canada
Culture : Amérique – Cree
Date : 1930-1935
Dimensions et poids : 141.8 x 11cm, 631 g
Donateur : Paul Coze
Précédente collection : Musée de l'Homme (Amérique)
Numéro d'inventaire : 71.1931.44.156
Culture : Amérique – Cree
Date : 1930-1935
Dimensions et poids : 141.8 x 11cm, 631 g
Donateur : Paul Coze
Précédente collection : Musée de l'Homme (Amérique)
Numéro d'inventaire : 71.1931.44.156
Friday, May 12, 2017
Elspeth Soper's Alder Paddle
Elspeth Soper has recently documented her experience carving a Cree style paddle from a log of Alder. Her photo rich post shows all the steps and details of the carving process resulting in a lovely, functional user.
Elspeth's blog also documents her trips to Northern Quebec where she got to witness modern Cree culture up close. A few years back, she completed a wood canvas canoe built in the style of John Kawapit. Her new paddle is a great match!
Elspeth's blog also documents her trips to Northern Quebec where she got to witness modern Cree culture up close. A few years back, she completed a wood canvas canoe built in the style of John Kawapit. Her new paddle is a great match!
Sunday, November 13, 2016
Innu Paddles - Virtual Museum of Canada
The Virtual Museum exhibit, Tipatshimuna - Innu Stories from the Land features a variety of Innu artifacts in various museum collections. While scrolling through the collection gallery, I came across two model paddles in the collection of
The Rooms Archive, Art Gallery and Museum in St. John's, Newfoundland.
Here's the description of the first paddle:
A second similar model paddle is also in their collection.
Similarly shaped and decorated paddles have been documented before. The Material culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi outlines enthographic items collected by William Duncan Strong from the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi (Innu) in 1927-1928. Plate 49 (pg 89) features a diagram of 4 decorated such Innu paddles.
Here's the description of the first paddle:
Wooden carving of a single bladed paddle. Blade has both faces ridged, sides slanted. Arm of paddle (approximately 10.0 cm long) widens at end. Blade decorated with three sets of red parallel lines. Tip also painted red.
Culture: Barren Ground Innu
Institution: The Rooms, Provincial Museum Division
Place made: unknown
Maker: unknown
Collector: unknown
Date Collected: unknown
A second similar model paddle is also in their collection.
Wooden carving of a single bladed paddle. Blade has both faces ridged. Sides are slanted and the tip is rounded. Arm of paddle tapered, widening a little at the end, edge rounded. Blade decorated with two blue bands approximately 3 apart), one band bordered by red triangular pattern.
Culture: Barren Ground Innu
Institution: The Rooms, Provincial Museum Division
Place made: unknown
Maker: unknown
Collector: unknown
Date Collected: unknown
Similarly shaped and decorated paddles have been documented before. The Material culture of the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi outlines enthographic items collected by William Duncan Strong from the Davis Inlet and Barren Ground Naskapi (Innu) in 1927-1928. Plate 49 (pg 89) features a diagram of 4 decorated such Innu paddles.
Friday, October 14, 2016
Replicating a previous design - Sassafras Recurved Cree blade
Been working on replicating another tested blade design from earlier in the blog. Back in 2010, I came across the paddle blank at an antique sale. It looked to be a project intended for a kid that was never completed. The blank had a blade heavy design with a thinner 1" shaft thickness so using a crooked knife, it was reworked into a recurved Cree design in the collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization. The full post can be read here.
The partially complete Birch blank with pear grip
Cree Paddle - Canadian Museum of Civilization
Chipping out the outline; Cleaned up with the crooked knife
Completed Paddle
The partially complete Birch blank with pear grip
Cree Paddle - Canadian Museum of Civilization
Chipping out the outline; Cleaned up with the crooked knife
Completed Paddle
Despite the thin shaft and slightly shorter length, I've been quite happy with the performance with the design and is one of my go-to paddles for casual use. Thought I would replicate the blade with another board of Sassafras but add on an elongated grip for more comfort and balance. Here's a shot of the nearly completed blank.
Not sure about the decoration yet, but I'm thinking of doing another surface burn with the propane torch.
