The Lake Superior Project – Thinking in Flowers and the Lost Dress
Birchbark trim inspired by Ojibwe floral design. Courtesy of Sofia Vanderlan.
Original beadwork by Sofia Vanderlan. On view at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The lost dress.
Sofia Vanderlan explains that she “thinks in flowers.” A bead artist, canoe builder and college student, Sofia has spent the past seven summers with her grandmother Agatha Armstrong in Grand Portage, and working at the Grand Portage National Monument. In 2025 she and a few others completed work on a birchbark canoe they named Oginii-waabigwan, the Ojibwe name for “wild rose.” Hear the story of the name, and learn about Sofia’s family connection to Ojibwe florals, and her search for a lost dress that was designed and beaded by her great-grandmother.
Sofia’s great-great aunt Philamene (Caribou) Evans, who owned a souvenir stand, selling hand-made goods at the Canadian border.
Lake Superior Project is supported in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
