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Fond du Lac Arts is a series exploring the stories, creative expression, and craftsmanship of Fond du Lac artists from a range of disciplines.
This project is produced by AMPERS, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities in partnership with WGZS, the Radio Voice of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
INTRO: You are listening to Fond du Lac Arts: Community through the Creative Arts.
NARRATOR: As a child, Chi Ma’iingan lived with his grandparents on the edge of Round Lake in White Earth.
[sound element: nature ambiance]
CHI MA’IINGAN: My grandfather was always working with hides and working with birch bark. My grandmother was always beading. They always spoke Ojibwe language in their house.
NARRATOR: Eventually, his family moved back to the Fond du Lac area, but the grandparents’ teachings stayed with him. He learned about sewing from his mom, watching her mend and resize clothes for the kids at the table.
ChI: When I was in high school, I was the home economics teacher’s star pupil.
NARRATOR: He started sewing on his own. Something he continued during his career as a police officer, eventually becoming police chief. But in 2019, he retired from law enforcement to devote himself to designing and making regalia and activewear based the in Ojibwe floral tradition.
CHI: In the last eight years or more, there's been a really strong resurgence in wearing our actual flowers on our clothes. And you see a lot of other artists out there in Ojibwe country taking part in that.
NARRATOR: To honor his grandparents, he called the business Round Lake Traditions. Summers, Chi Ma’iingan and his family have taken their vendor booth to powwows coast to coast.
CHI: It’s a cool thing by Sunday morning to see so many people in that pow wow wearing your stuff. And then the following year. It gives you a pretty good feeling seeing that and knowing that you're just playing a small part of keeping our traditions alive.
OUTRO: Fond du Lac Arts is produced by AMPERS and WGZS, the radio voice of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.