Laura Youngbird, Mishipechu
Headwaters Park
Breckenridge, MN
46.26397, -96.59809

Mishipechu is a powerful and important underwater creature. To the Anishinabe, Ottawa, Menominee, Shawnee and Cree tribes, Mishipechu is also known as the Great Lynx with the head and paws of a great cat, a lizard-like body, covered in scales with spikes along its back and tail.

Mishipechu is the embodiment of power with the dual role of protector and destroyer, known for protecting the water and guarding  vast amounts of copper. They are said to live in the deepest parts of lakes and rivers, where they can cause storms. There are consequences of misusing resources.

Laura Youngbird is an artist and art educator. She earned her BS, BFA, and MA from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a minor in American Indian Studies. As an undergraduate she worked in the Archeology department as a lab and field assistant. She’s an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa, Grand Portage Band. The themes in her work originated from experiences her family and particularly her grandmother had while at boarding schools and issues that surrounded their assimilation into non-Indian culture. Laura also explores the influences of Christianity on American Indian Spirituality and life views.