Slideshow

American Indian Sculptor Jason Quigno: I Tell My Stories through Stones

Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Entertainment. Discussion »

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN - Beginning with large solid pieces of stone, award-winning artist Jason Quigno visualizes, cuts, carves and sands out stories. As he turns the raw stone into sculptures, he captures the essence of being Anishinabe through his stories.

Quigno, Ojibwa, Ottawa and Potawatomi, remembers how his ancestors used tell stories on with drawings on birch bark scrolls. Today, he tells stories through his art he laboriously carves out of stone.

“I feel an obligation to tell our stories for future generations. I tell my stories through stones,”

said Quigno.

“Just as the Egyptians did thousands of years ago with stone, the Anishinabe did the same thing. People will be able to see my art and learn from it in the future.”

Sculptor Jason Quigno

This week Quigno unveiled his latest creation which is an entry for this year's ArtPrize in downtown Grand Rapids on the Pew Campus of Grand Valley State University. The nine-and-half foot tall sculpture is called The 7 Chief clans of the Anishinabe.

posted September 24, 2011 11:30 am edt