About
Anishinaabe Artist Paula Sayers
Paula B. Sayers, whose Ojibwe name is Miskobii'an, meaning ‘paint it red’, is a member of The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, Red Lake, Minnesota.
Raised in the cultural conventions of the Anishnaabeg, she specializes in monochromatic painting of pictograph images, using natural red earth for the majority of her work.
She grew up on the site of the earliest known Ojibwe settlement; Fond Du Lac, which later became Duluth. Her childhood backyard was an important location for the Ojibwe between the 16th and 19th centuries, and was the site of an American Fur Company trading post between 1808 and 1847.
When asked about her motivation for this unusual art medium, she replied;
"...Our spiritual dreams and visions are mostly a private matter however when we receive instruction from the Great Creator pertaining to healing or following a certain path, we must act upon it, or lose those gifts.”