Leland Bell was born in 1953 at Wikwemikong Unceded First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Ontario (Note: the name Wikwemikong means “bay of beavers”); he was raised there and in Toronto and graduated from Laurentian University in Sudbury where he majored in Native Studies. His spirit name is Bebaminojmat, he is of the Loon Clan, and is a “second degree” member of the Three Fires Midewiwin society. An Ojibwa-Odawa, Bell prefers to identify himself as an Anishinabe, an Ojibwa word for North America meaning literally “from whence man was lowered”. He “firmly believes in the notion that Anishinabe culture contains all the necessary paradigms of knowledge to nurture the survival of the Anishinabe people”. As an artist, he believes that the way that “colours, lines, shapes and compositions are perceived” can be understood in the context of that culture. He was one of the young men mentored by members of the Indian Group of Seven at the Manitou Arts Foundation, a summer school that operated on Schreiber Island in 1972. He was deeply inspired by the work of the Woodland artists and with the help of elders has made the connection between the Anishnabe concept of vision quest and his own commitment to living life as a good being.
