Boundless K-12 Curriculum: CONTINUANCE

How does art tell the story of resilience and survival?

Two lifesize wooden paddles. The left one is stained with black walnut + red ochre. The right one is light ash wood, with a symmetric design carved into it.
Jonathan James-Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag, American, born 1976),
from left to right:
Paddle 1 – Where We Come From, 2023.
White ash, stain of black walnut and red ochre
Paddle 2 – Where We Are, 2023.
White ash.
Courtesy of the artist.

These paddles are carved of wood
from one ash tree.

a wooden canoe paddle
a decorative wavy line

The darker paddle is functional and was created using pre-1600s tools, representing the past.

The other paddle with a design cut through its blade is non-useable and symbolizes the resiliency and survival efforts of Native people.

a wooden canoe paddle with a pattern cut through its blade.
a play icon

Watch the video below and observe how Jonathan James-Perry connects the past and the present through his art.

This mishoon was created for the Nolumbeka Project’s Pocumtuck Homelands Festival and the first mishoon to be paddled in the Connecticut River in over 150 years.
Learn More about Jonathan James-Perry
overlapping concentric circles made by ripples in water.

Boundless K-12 Curriculum

* YouTube links to audiovisual materials shared by other creators are included in the curriculum. For more information, including for captioning and transcripts of the suggested audiovisual materials, please contact the audio/video content creators.