Quilt Ojar -- Circles on the Water

Ojar, in the Saami language means “circles on the water that appear from a thrown stone”. As the circles on the water diverge from the stone, the meetings of the Arctic Indigenous Virtual Artists Network (AIVAN), are the driving force behind the development of new ideas, knowledge, plans, and collaboration between artists and craftspeople who began to virtually gather together during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. In the perception of many Indigenous peoples, a quilt is often used as a blanket that serves as a protective gear for a person. Quilt protects from cold and wet weather, from bad spirits and negative energy, and provides comfort. To receive such a blanket as a gift is a great honor. In different traditions, such blankets are constructed using a variety of images : in the form of a star, in the form of paintings, tribal trees, stories, and legends. Aboriginal artists often use quilting techniques to narrate social injustice and inequality, as well as to record the history and important events of the people.

Quilt Ojar is represented by islets from different parts of Northern Russia and the prairies of the Turtle Island: Yakutia, Murmansk, Kamchatka, Yamal, Sakhalin, Tomsk, and Iowa. Each islet tells about a unique People who over millennia have developed various technologies of comfortable life in the North. The islets provide an opportunity of a brief introduction into the ancient cultures and worldviews. These works introduce the philosophy of life of a man of the North, and understanding of the universe. In creating the islets, we used a wide variety of local materials: salmon skin, reindeer fur, eco-leather, felt, beads, reed stalks, dough, birch bark, etc. Each artist decided on the story to share and the technique to use for their island.

The idea for this project belongs to Mary Youngbear, a Meskwaki artist. During 2020-2021, the Indigenous artists were gathering online and discussed the methods of creating islets, formed a concept of the project, and co-created the final quilt. The Ojar Quilt was assembled at the ARCTICenter with support from the Museum of the University of Northern Iowa in close consultation with the participating artists. Jenna Jansen helped photograph the islets and put them into a virtual quilt. The work on assembling the quilt was carried out by Dr. Marybeth Stalp, Professor of Sociology at the University of Northern Iowa .