"It would be a disservice to describe "Spirit of the Ojibwe: Images of Lac Courte Oreilles Elders" as simply a book. Rather, it's a multimedia cultural artifact -- filled with wonderful paintings, terrific photographs and short biographies of tribal elders -- that illustrates the powerful identity the Ojibwe have developed over centuries.

The centerpiece of "Spirit" is the collection of 32 oil paintings of Lac Courte Oreilles tribal elders in northern Wisconsin, completed by Sara Balbin over many years. Accompanying each vivid painting is a short biographical essay about the life of each elder. Funding from the National Endowment for the Arts helped make this ambitious project possible, and the paintings have been exhibited widely, including at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

Balbin's marvelous paintings capture the essence of each elder: She communicates the spirituality of James "Pipe" Mustache Sr. by showing him waist-deep in water while wearing traditional headdress. Elder Josephine Crowe Grover is painted inside her house, smiling on a couch while a winter storm rages outside. The mother of four kids and 17 foster kids, Grover wears a floral dress and holds an eagle feather, a symbol of leadership."

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'Spirit of the Ojibwe': Essence of an elder (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 7/15)