Wabanaki Visual Language

Wabanaki Visual Language

Wabanaki peoples - the Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, and Abenaki - have rich visual traditions expressed through beadwork, basketry, birchbark etching, and quillwork.

Common elements include flowing double-curve motifs, geometric leaf and flower forms, and careful use of colour to create depth and movement. These designs carry cultural meaning that goes beyond decoration.

Important note: Specific traditional motifs, their meanings, and their appropriate uses are best learned from Elders, knowledge keepers, and community members - not from a screen. This course teaches you the technical tools to create digital designs so that you are ready to apply them when that cultural learning happens in person.

The facilitated course Indigenous Design and Collaborative Fabrication pairs you with a mentor artist to apply these tools to designs grounded in your own community's visual language.