“Teachings of Water Spirit ~ Elders Honoring Water”
May 6, 2023 at ASWM Conference in Syracuse NY
We are honored to present the wisdom of Three Elders grounded by river and sea, beach, marsh and wetland, woodland and prairie, who share their notions of water as spirit. Here, the teachings of the matriarchs they have learned from are entwined within their lives—these three immense elder teachers provide a forthcoming lesson as they come together to reveal their love of Water through song and story.
Douglas Cardinal is best known as a world-renowned master architect and an Anishinaabe Lodge Keeper and Pipe Carrier who has deep connections with Indigenous peoples around the globe. Born in 1934 in Calgary (Alberta, Canada), his ancestry encompasses Siksika (Blackfoot) and a Scot’s background mixed with French, German, and Algonquin descent. As Cardinal’s Blackfoot father was considered a pagan by the colonial authorities, his mother was forced to send him to the Catholic boarding school of St. Joseph’s Convent so he could be made into ‘a good catholic.’ Under extreme emotional and physical duress, and out of despair, Douglas found solace and inspiration in the arts. He particularly excelled in music (he completed the Piano -Ontario Conservatory of Music training) and drawing. The influence of his mother ensured Douglas Cardinal a place where his natural talents would be recognized and best served in the field of architecture.
Cardinal’s initial architectural education at University of British Columbia (UBC) was defined by his critique of the Bauhaus architectural philosophy. While at UBC, Douglas embraced the nature-inspired organic architectural approach of design, and after a year or so of deep reflection, he joined the University of Texas in Austin where he gained access to Steiner and Gaudi’s spiritual connections with architecture. During this study, Cardinal rediscovered his Blackfoot heritage and dedicated himself to the human rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, in a rejection of apartheid in American society. When Douglas graduated with Honours in 1963, he returned to Canada and committed himself to a fight against an apartheid system in Canada. His focus on Indigenous worldviews and the principles of organic architecture heavily influenced his designs throughout the years; and his dedication to elders deepened his understanding of water, matriculture, and community.
The presence of water is essential in Douglas Cardinal’s designs. His flowing architecture evokes the sinuous relationship between the land and the water, always integrating the sacred forces of water whether symbolically, or physically realizing waterfalls, ponds, or recovering wetlands. His work is the physical manifestation of merged philosophies of sustainability and those Indigenous worldviews, the spiritual and the physical, as foundations of Land and Water, Nature and Earth Mother. His dedication to elders across many territories has deepened his understanding of water, matriculture, and community.
Douglas Cardinal currently lives with his family in the nation’s capital, Ottawa, Canada, and continues to work tirelessly as an architect and an activist.
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