On View
Not on viewObject number2010.41
Ajidamoo Minis
Artist
Tom Uttech
(American, 1942-)
Date2005
Mediumseven-color lithograph
Dimensionsimage: 19 3/4 × 21 3/4 in. (50.2 × 55.2 cm)
sheet: 19 3/4 × 21 3/4 in. (50.2 × 55.2 cm)
mat: 24 × 30 in. (61 × 76.2 cm)
sheet: 19 3/4 × 21 3/4 in. (50.2 × 55.2 cm)
mat: 24 × 30 in. (61 × 76.2 cm)
Credit LinePurchased with funds given by Zoe Schuitmaker in honor of her husband Harold Schuitmaker on the occasion of his birthday
Label TextTom Uttech studied at the Layton School of Art and the University of Cincinnati before teaching at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee until 1998. He is known for his paintings inspired by the natural environment he encounters in his native Wisconsin and nearby North Woods wilderness areas in Minnesota and Ontario. Some have referred to his work as a form of magic realism given its invocation of spirituality rooted in the sublime experience of nature and its frequent presentation of animal encounters that seem surreal or impossible.
Ajidamoo is the ojibwe term for a red squirrel, while minis means island. Although there is a Squirrel Island in Northern Wisconsin, it is unclear if Uttech’s print is meant to represent that particular place. He typically works in his studio from memory, and his works are therefore more imaginative interpretations of the experience of nature rather than precise documents of particular places. Uttech’s use of the Ojibwe language in the print’s title reflects the greater debt his art holds to the cultural traditions of the Indigenous peoples of the Great Lakes region. By reverentially representing the flora and fauna of the region and depicting experiences of nature as awe-inspiring, he invokes the spiritual significance of the natural world to the Ojibwe, who believe that all things in the natural world are interconnected.
