Stencil set showing stock of maize. Stencils installed as a set of nine: three rectangles high, three layers deep. Each stencil layer was aerosol painted with a different colours - bright green, dark purple, and black.

Stencil set showing a person crouched down, wearing a protective suit with respirator, and holding a large syringe. Stencils installed as a set of six: two rectangles high, three layers deep. Each stencil layer was aerosol painted with a different colour - light taupe, dark taupe, and black.

Stencil set showing a person wearing a protective suit, bent forward, in partial profile. Stencils installed as a set of nine: three rectangles high, three layers deep. Each stencil layer was aerosol painted with a different colour - light taupe, dark taupe, and black.

Stencil set showing a person wearing a protective suit and respirator, slightly bent forward, with his hands/arms partially raised. Stencils installed as a set of nine: three rectangles high, three layers deep. Each stencil layer was aerosol painted with a different colour - light taupe, dark taupe and black.

Stencil set with outlines of aerosol paint, showing a person wearing a protective suit and respirator with hands raised above head ("hands up, don't shoot" position). Stencils installed as a set of twelve: four rectangles stacked, three layers deep. Each stencil layer was aerosol painted with a different colour - light taupe, dark taupe and black.

Stencil set showing a woman in partial profile pointing a rifle to viewers right. The woman wears a wrap on her head, blouse, long skirt and sandals. Stencils are installed as a set of twelve: three layers deep; three rectangles high in one stack (parts a-c, e-g, i-k) with additional rectangle at the upper right (parts d, h, l), showing the end of the gun. Each stencil layer was aerosol painted with a different colour - light taupe, dark taupe, and black.

« The collection contains a set of four birch bark cut-out patterns of floral motifs (fig. 13) used on one of the illustrated covered baskets (fig. 12). Another set of nine patterns, which includes human forms, a fish, a canoe, and floral stencils, is described by Speck as having been used for bead and silk work (fig. 14). However, one of the patterns, that of a fish, was used on a previously described comb case (fig. 91). Speck (1935, pp. 190-191) has noted that for the Montagnais, the symbolic pictorial representation of a plant or animal was equivalent to the actual plant or animal and those portrayed were believed to come under the control of the individual human spirit. Dreams played a major part in suggesting the relationship between specific animals or plants and an individual. The spirit was strengthened by having its dream promptings obeyed and success in subsistence activities was thereby assured. » Vanstone, James W. "The Speck Collection of Montagnais Material Culture from the Lower St. Lawrence Drainage, Quebec." Fieldiana. Anthropology. New Series, No. 5 (October 29, 1982), p.10, fig 14 (p.42).

Museum Purchase: Funds provided by the Erma Engels Bequest by exchange.

Gift of the Native American Art Council.

Gift of Lillian Pitt.