Workshops

With these workshops participants will complete hands on activities in support of a set of learning objectives on particular subjects. These workshops teach best practices; increases the Algonquin knowledge; helps the culture to expand; and participants will have the chance to learn some Algonquin vocabulary. Below is a list of workshops I currently provide, with a description of what participants will learn.

* All workshops (except for harvesting workshops and presentations) include: pre-harvest materials, assemble kits, all tools, and a facility.

Baby Cradle Board

Cradle boards are used for the first years of an infant's life cycle. It’s made to hold and carry the infant horizontally on the mother’s back and shared from generation to generation. Babies were wrapped in a moss bag and securely bound to the cradle board that is laced with leather. The board consists of cedar wood, and the handle and foot stand consists of ash wood. Join in on a one day workshop in making a baby cradle board, hear stories and learn its practical uses.

Birch Bark Basket

With this amazing opportunity you will learn in this one day workshop how to manipulate birch bark. Learn to use the ancestral ways of etching in Fall-Winter-Spring seasonal birch bark, to produce a design on your basket, without using markers nor paint. Learn the flexibility of birch bark and how to sew with spruce roots.

Birch Bark Canoe

Come learn the ingenious ways Algonquin ancestors built the foundational structure of their birch bark canoes with the simplicity of their intellectual designs. No one needs a degree to do this. Anyone can easily build a canoe if they have the patients and desire to learn. All canoes are built depending of the paddler’s needs. In this one week and a half workshop (or 8-10 days separated on different weekends), you will learn about: types of natural materials (barks, roots, woods, and gums); how to process the materials; and how to use manual tools. * Pre-harvest materials must be available.

Birch Bark Match Kit

While canoeing, you might tip and fall in the lake or river waters. Wouldn’t you like a floating birch bark match kit to keep your matches dry and add to your survival kit? Explore in a one day workshop how to make your very own birch bark match kit. If you ever canoe and tip in water, you’ll be able to start a fire to get dry and warmed up before the cold night comes.

Birch Bark Moose Caller
Do you go moose hunting or would like to go hunting to revive your ancestral traditions? Get ready for a one day workshop by making your very own birch bark moose caller that will last you for generations to come. Learn to use an awl to pierce holes and why not to use a whole puncher. Understand how to sew with roots in order not to use glue.
Birch Bark Wigwam
Before living in a traditional Algonquin home ‘wigwam’ you need to learn about the materials used to build it and how to manage the materials. In this one week and a half workshop (or 8-10 days separated on different weekends), you will learn on how to work together as a community, how to strategically plan a wigwam structure to avoid any waste of materials, and learn about ancestral technics. * Pre-harvest materials must be available.
Bone and Cup Game (Algonquin version)
As you know, we live in harmony with nature. We only took what we needed to survive. We alternate our food supplies during seasons to let the regrowth of plants and re-population of animals. When an animal gave us its life to feed our communities, we would use everything that wasn’t eaten, to honor that animal. Come and learn in a one day workshop how to make the Algonquin version of the Bone and Cup Game, and effectively learn how to develop your concentration and coordination.
Canoe Wood Paddle
Back in the days when we needed a canoe paddle we used the elements around us to produce it. We could use the bone of a moose shoulder blade, but in this one day workshop you will learn to make either a (cedar, ash, birch, etc.) wood paddle of the daily choice, and how imperfections are natural beauties.
Harvest - Birch Bark
Get well geared up for a one day excursion that will help you explore the different types of elements surrounding the Algonquin territory. Develop skills on best times to harvest bark. Determine appropriate solutions on how to harvest, transport, and store bark. Nothing is wasted and you’ll learn how the birch trees can help you survive with their elements which you can make syrup, oil, flour, fire starter, fire wood, etc. If we are lucky, we might even find some chaga medicine!
Harvest - Spruce Roots
Get equipped and put on some clothes you don’t mind getting dirty, because we are going on a one day excursion in the forest to dig and harvest spruce roots. We will analyze the forest and see how lucky we are that so many types of trees grow on this territory. You will learn how to identify different types of trees, dig roots, harvest roots, and store roots. Discover the wonderful smells of the roots while learning to clean the bark off and splitting them.
Harvest - Spruce Gum
Did you ever wonder how we made sealant in the ancestral ways? Join in a one day excursion in the forest to harvest spruce gum. Learn the types of trees, what the gum looks like in its natural state, how to harvest the gum, and how to process the gum by a filtration process.
Rawhide - Hand Drum
The drum is the oldest universal instrument that every culture on mother earth can relate to. It has a different meaning to everyone. There are many types of First Nations drums. This one day workshop provides foundational knowledge about the ancestral ways to make the Algonquin version of the hand drum. Learn how it implicates the connections between the elements (animal skin, water, wood frame, heat of sun or fire mixed with the wind, and cold weather).
Rawhide - Rattle

For yourself or for a gift, join in on this one day workshop to make a beautiful rawhide rattle. Use the same rawhide as for the drums. Each rattle is stitched with rawhide lace, left to dry, and then filled with pebbles. The handles are all ash wood. The use of rawhide and wood gives it its natural beauty.

Snow Shoes

Are you bored at home? Come learn in a two day workshop on how to make a pair of snow shoes to help the long winter time pass by faster. You will then have the pleasure with your snowshoes to go discover paths in the forest and discover the beauty of nature.

Toboggan
Who doesn’t like to go sliding in the winter snow! In this two day workshop you’ll learn to work with manual tools and technics on how to bend wood. See the final product and how ancestral technics of producing things were made durable. 
 
© Copyright 2024. Pinock Smith, Kitigan Zibi, QC
Webmaster: Angela Towedo