About

Whether it’s a board game, a comic book, a visual story, or a tool for truth-telling, I will build it for you. Over the years, I’ve worn many hats: police officer, Indigenous language teacher, consultant, education worker, 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 Indigenize systems from within. I don’t chase leadership, but when it finds me, I honour it.

I spent nearly a decade teaching Aanishinaabe language and Indigenous studies in schools, always working to decolonize 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. The first version of the board game is for ages 14+ and there is now a second version for elementary and middle school, both available for purchase. 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 Aanishinaabe creation story. Book One: North – The Legend of Gii-wed-anong is complete, consisting of 10 parts and 320 pages of fully illustrated storytelling. The First 96 Pages of Book One is currently available for purchase, which includes the first three parts: 1. An Aanishinaabe Creation Story, 2. The Fall before Winter,  and 3. Crash Landing.

The next three books, Book 2: East – The Legend of Waab-anong, Book 3: South – The Legend of Zhaa-wanong, and Book 4: West – The Legend of Nin-gaa-bii-we-anong, 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.

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. Comic Books, 2. Artwork, 3. Board Games, and 4. Merch. And, the journey continues, the building continues.
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When you purchase my work, whether it's a a comic book, an original art piece, an art print, a board game, 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.
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Miigwetch, Miigwetch, Miigwetch for your support!
James Darin Corbiere