Burlington Tooshkenig
Burlington Tooshkenig is an Anishinaabe artist from Walpole Island First Nation of Ontario Canada. He learned how to make baskets by watching and by instructions from his grandmother. At 15 he started selling his various artistic expressions on weekends at pow wows. Occasionally the family would get involved and work into the late hours to be ready for the weekend. He realized that all the sweetgrass basket makers were aging and some were passing. There didn't seem to be a lot of interest to learn this skill. This inspired him to develop his basket making skills. The baskets are adorned with combination of porcupine quillwork, beadwork, stonework, shell work, braided sweetgrass, spruce root and black ash strips and birch bark. He also makes birch baskets and has begun to teach himself black ash basketry.
This sweetgrass basket is called "All Over the Clover.” It is a basket inspired by the symbiotic relationship between the early blooming white clover and the honey bee. White clover is a favourite of the honey bee as it is some of the first consistent food sources in the spring. Realizing how important to human food sources are affected by the pollination accomplished by honey bees, motivates me to bring attention to these amazing creatures.
Burlington is continually reclaiming various art forms as well as using innovative ways to demonstrate his culture through his art. He teaches some of these art expressions through workshops in various areas as well as online via Zoom. He creates tutorial videos on his Facebook art page, Sweetgrass & Cinnamon - Indigenous Art, which has a following of 24k followers. His commissions and sales from around the world are from New Zealand, Hawaii, Japan, United States and Canada. The Indigenous Art Centre at Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and The Rooms, Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Art Bank have acquired baskets from Burlington. He currently has a basket in an online exhibition along with 15 other Indigenous artists from across the North American Continent.
