James F. Frechette, Jr.
Grande Medicine
Grande Medicine is a tribute to James Frechette’s Menominee roots. It was his way of showing how, in traditional Menominee life, the needs of the group take precedence over the needs of the individual to ensure the tribe’s survival. The walnut wood carvings depict the original clan brothers, the Great Ancestral Bear and the Golden Eagle, engaged in a ceremonial game of Pākahatuan. The figures also represent two halves of the world– the domain of the underground beings and the domain of the sky dwellers. Their unification while playing the game symbolizes the medicine of the collective. According to the Menominees, the game was given to the Menominee people as a gift from the Creator. Pākahatuan required that all community members participate, instilling their interdependence. The game was not played to win, but to bring together each player’s inner strength.
Pākahatuan was an extremely rough goal game that had few rules and no referees. Teams were formed with equal numbers of players, whose total could vary from game to game. The game lasted as long as it took for one team to score four points. Players used long sticks with a basket attached to the end to catch and throw the ball. A point was scored when an airborne ball made contact with the opponent’s single goalpost. The Menominees played the game every spring after the first thunderstorm in honor of the return of the Thunderers. Only a spiritual leader of the tribe could call for the game and only after receiving instructions through a vision or dream. The goalposts were always set up on an east-west axis, tying into the Menominee legend that the Bear comes out of the east and the Eagle comes out of the west.
In Grande Medicine, the west goalpost is depicted by dark wood on the upper half of the oval plaque. The top half of the east goalpost is made of light-colored wood. The other two plaques show the gift rack, the pipes and tobacco. These were always positioned on the south side of the field. Players smoked tobacco between scoring periods and gifts like finished skins, calico cloth, wild rice and maple sugar were given out after the game. Frechette titled his work in three languages: English, French and Menominee to emphasize the tribe’s historical alliances.
Grande Medicine is part of the art from the original Burke Collection donated to the Midwest Express Center in 1998.
About James F. Frechette, Jr.
James F. Frechette, Jr. served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War and for the Department of Indian Affairs before he devoted himself full-time to art. Born on the Menominee Indian Reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin, Frechette used a simple carver’s bench knife and tools he created to masterfully create wood carvings that told stories about the tribe’s old ways. Frechette, whose Menominee name was Nātamowekow, learned the tribe’s history, legends and ancient cultural traditions from his elders. His love and knowledge of wood came from his grandfather, who was a carpenter by trade. Many of his pieces took a minimum of 300 hours to carve and depending on the complexity and size of the design could take over 1000 hours. Frechette often worked on several projects at one time to capitalize on his continuous flow of creativity. He always kept a pen and paper in hand so that he could sketch out basic ideas as they came to mind. When people view Frechette’s art, he hoped they would find the story within the carvings.
Frechette passed away in 2006. In 2005, he was presented with the prestigious Laird National Leadership in Art Award. His work on display at Baird Center stands as a testament to his unique and powerful creativity. It serves as an example of Frechette’s commitment to his Menominee heritage and tribal traditions. He is best known for his work on the Menominee Clans Story, a series of 24 wood carvings depicting Menominee clans and their responsibilities. He was also the subject of a film project that started in 1995 under the sponsorship of Nicolet College and completed posthumously in 2012 by retired Nicolet fine arts instructor, Robert Kanyusik that documents the completion of an 11-foot-tall carving of the Great Light-Colored Bear, also known as the Great Ancestral Bear. In 2020, the short film Nātamowekow, honoring Frechette’s vision was a finalist for the Independent Shorts Award, and in 2023 was selected for presentation at the 17th UK Native Spirit Film Festival.
