About
Artist, Writer, Builder & Educator Statement
Miigwetch (thank you) for visiting Eastern Woodland Art. I’m Waabi Makoohns which loosely translates to mean “Little White Bear," and my English name is James Darin Corbiere.
I'm an Anishinaabe artist, writer, builder, and educator of the Bear Clan, originally from Wii-kwe-amikoong on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, now living on Vancouver Island, BC. My creative work honours the rich traditions of Eastern Woodland art, weaving together ancestral wisdom and contemporary expression through storytelling and vibrant imagery.
Whether it’s a board game, a comic book, a visual story, or a tool for truth-telling, I will build it for you.
I spent nearly a decade teaching Anishinaabe language and Indigenous studies in schools, always working to decolonise what and how we teach, creating space for cultural truth, story, and lived experience. That same spirit led me to create The Truth in Truth and Reconciliation, an educational board game that sparks hard conversations through gameplay. Currently, the board game for ages 14+ is available for purchase and the elementary school version will soon be available too. My dream is to distribute 20,000 free copies to schools across Canada.
In 2015, I returned to visual art. I began working with white ash, often from dead or dying trees, milling them into slabs and unique shapes, then drawing what the wood tells me. Using markers, inks, and sometimes copper, I translate the stories I hear in the grain. The process is spiritual. I’m not the author; I’m the listener, the interpreter. Whether I’m revealing Thunderbird feathers, bears, or turtles, the art is alive. It’s ancestral and personal, all at once.
Art came back into my life after I gave the Church its demons back. As a child, I used to see Light around people, until Christianity stripped that away. Fifty years later, I let that pain go. Colour returned to my world, this time in the form of healing, vibrant artwork. Since then, I’ve created over 300 pieces, each one grounded in Indigenous knowledge, storytelling, and land-based truth.
Alongside my visual work, I’m the author and illustrator of a four-part full-colour comic book series called BalAnce, rooted in the Anishinaabe creation story. Volume One: North – The Legend of Giiwedanong is complete, consisting of 10 parts and 320 pages of fully illustrated storytelling, including its prelude, The Story of Creation. The first 96 pages of Volume One is currently available for purchase.
The next three volumes, Volume 2: East – The Legend of Waabanong, Volume 3: South – The Legend of Zhaawanong, and Volume 4: West – The Legend of Epangishmook, will complete BalAnce, totalling approximately 1,000 pages. The stories are still inside me, but I need time and support to bring them to life before they fade.
When you purchase my work, whether it's a board game, a comic book, an original art piece, an art print, or a piece of merch, you're not just buying a product, you’re investing in the completion of my life’s work: helping me finish the BalAnce comic book series and bring these stories to the world while I still can.
As the founder of Eastern Woodland Art, I'm focused on building an arts-based life, one rooted in healing, truth-telling, and Indigenous knowledge. Every piece I create is a step toward remembering who we are through land, story, and spirit.
So far, Eastern Woodland Art includes four categories of creations: 1. Board Games, 2. Comic Books, 3. Art Prints, and 4. Merch. And, the journey continues, the building continues.
Miigwetch, Miigwetch, Miigwetch for being part of my journey!
Over the years, I’ve worn many hats: police officer, Indigenous language teacher, consultant, policy analyst, and professor. Whether I was policing during the Oka Crisis or teaching Ojibwe in northern classrooms, my goal has always been the same: to Indigenise systems from within. I don’t chase leadership, but when it finds me, I honour it.
