Dreamcatcher Class February 10th at NWFA Gallery

Join American Indian educator, Stacy Palmer, and make your own contemporary

dreamcatcher on Saturday, February 10th at 1 p.m. at Northwoods Friends of the

Arts Gallery in Cook, MN. This class was originally scheduled and postponed in

November.

Ethnographers now believe dream catchers originated from the Ojibwa Chippewa

tribe, an Anishinaabe people from the area that is currently southern Canada and

the northern Midwestern United States.

The Ojibwa tribe believe that the night air is filled with dreams, both good and bad.

The dream catcher attracts and catches all sorts of dreams, nightmares and

thoughts into its protective woven spider web. Good dreams can pass through the

sacred hoop and gently slide down the feathers to comfort the sleeper below. Bad

dreams, however, are caught up in its sticky net and destroyed, burned up in the

light of day. For this reason, dreamcatchers traditionally must be hung above the

bed in a place where morning sunlight can reach it.

Authentic dreamcatchers are made of spiritual sacred objects: a wooden hoop,

sinew, strips of leather, feathers, beads and other objects. Some objects hang

below the center of the “Sacred Hoop”. The Ojibwa tribe was inspired by spiders,

believed to be their guardians and protectors.

Native Americans believed in a mystical Spider Woman whose mission was to

protect babies and children as well as other members of the tribe while they were

vulnerable in sleep. As the tribe grew and migrated around the country, she was

no longer capable of protecting the entire tribe. As a result, she created the dream

catcher as a way of protecting the growing tribe. Because of this belief, mothers

and grandmothers began recreating the dreamcatcher and it evolved into a

maternal memento.

NWFA so appreciates Stacy Palmer for teaching this class. Stacy teaches native

culture at North Woods Elementary School, Cook/Orr, St. Louis County,

Minnesota. She is also a member of the Bois Forte Chippewa band. In this class

students will create a contemporary 10 inch diameter Dreamcatcher in Cook at the

Northwoods Friends of the Arts Gallery at 210 S. River St. located adjacent to the

DreamWeaver Day Spa and Salon.

Students must preregister for the class by calling Alberta at 218 666-2153.

Non-profit, NWFA, is a membership arts organization working to inspire, nurture

and celebrate the arts in all forms.