This April, the Block Museum of Art and the Center for Native Futures were honored to host two powerful evenings of artmaking and storytelling led by artist and culture keeper Kelly Church (Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi/Ottawa).

As a collaborating artist in Woven Being: Art for Zhegagoynak/Chicagoland, Church brought to life two traditional Anishinaabe art forms—birchbark biting and black ash basket weaving—through hands-on community workshops. Each session offered participants not only a rare opportunity to engage with these ancestral practices, but also a chance to connect deeply with the cultural teachings, environmental knowledge, and personal legacy that inform Church’s work.

“Every splint of ash we weave carries the knowledge of generations,” Church shared. “I learned from my father and my cousin—and now I pass it on, not just to my daughter, but to anyone willing to listen.”

On Wednesday, April 16, visitors gathered at The Block Museum in Evanston to learn the intricate practice of wigwas mamacenawejegam (birchbark biting). To make a biting, the artist thinly peels the bark, folds it, then strategically bites down with their eyeteeth to create designs that are symmetrical when the bark is unfolded. Participants created their own bitings—butterflies, dragonflies, flowers—while learning about the practice’s role in storytelling and design.

“When you bite the bark, you’re imprinting memory into the material,” Church explained. “You’re connecting to your ancestors, to the land, and to the stories the trees hold.”

The following evening, on Thursday, April 17, Church led a second workshop at the Center for Native Futures in downtown Chicago. Each participant made a black ash basket with materials Kelly and her family prepared from a black ash log they had harvested. As the group wove, Kelly shared black ash teachings and the devastating impact of the invasive emerald ash borer—a threat to both the trees and the traditions tied to them.

“We’re in a race against time,” she told attendees. “The emerald ash borer is wiping out our black ash trees. We make these baskets not just as art, but as resistance—so we remember, and so the tree remembers us.”

Both events were fully booked, drawing a cross-generational group of artists, students, and community members eager to learn through making. More than workshops, these gatherings served as spaces of reciprocity, where stories and laughter were exchanged alongside materials and techniques.

“We are still here. We have voices. We have our teachings. And we will carry them forward.”

We are deeply grateful to Kelly Church for sharing her artistry, generosity, and wisdom across these unforgettable experiences.