Faribault Woolen Mill limited run blanket by Dyani White Hawk for The Great Northern: Journey

Enlarged detail image of the larger blanket.

In partnership with American Craft Council

The Great Northern is honored to continue a partnership with award-winning visual artist Dyani White Hawk (Sičáŋǧu Lakota) whose design for a limited run winter blanket launches as part of our 2022 festival. Skillfully manufactured by Faribault Woolen Mill (Faribault, MN), one of the last vertical woolen mills in America, and in collaboration with the American Craft Council, whose mission is to cultivate a culture of making, the collective spotlights Northern winter craft at its finest through complementary perspectives and expertise.

Artist Statement:
The original artwork for Journey was created during a printmaking and cultural exchange between Native American artists and Aboriginal Australian artists at the Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Centre, an Indigenous community controlled art center in Yirrkala, Australia. 

In various prints made by Aboriginal artists I recognized repeated motifs that reference the Milky Way. As Lakota people, we have teachings about the Milky Way related to our origins and our journeys when we return to the spiritual realm. When I asked about the Milky Way references in their work, I was amazed to hear how strikingly similar their stories are to our own. Western science now also shares similar stories through recent research that indicates that the matter that makes up our bodies, originated in the stars. No matter your spiritual or religious beliefs, we are undoubtedly connected to the cosmos and to one another, on our individual, yet related journeys. 

Proceeds support artistic programming of The Great Northern and American Craft Council.