Heart

Painted Birch Bark Box from MSU Museum.

The colors used on this box may tell their own story. Alice Williams, an Anishinaabe quilt maker, writes about the Pimaatisiwin Circle or Medicine Wheel to relate "the spirit" of her art and to "recognize and be thankful for the gifts of Life... and represents the teachings of respect embeded in our Anishinaabe culture" (441). This birch bark box might be viewed in this spirit. Within the flower design on the top of the box, a blue thread seperates the middle of the flower into four section just like in the Medicine Wheel. Red is the most dominant color used on this box and is one of the four colors most often used in the Medicine Wheel. As described by Alice Williams, red represents the heart, the east direction, the season of Spring, and the land of the Anishinaabe people (Williams, 444).