Gallery of Art from Child of Morning Star:
Embers of an Ancient Dawn

Listen to a Sample from the Audiobook 

Performed by Austin Andrews, Julian Hobson, and Lorene Shyba

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Many paintings and sketches are in colour in the book but not all so watch the video.
For full-screen click the Youtube logo.

For more of Antoine Mountain's work and world you can visit his web

A WORLD

There is one,
Of wonder and magic
This creation,
Just past your very best!
As you enter, straining,
Each twist and turn,
A torture
To stay within
And surely return
With the heaviest of trophies.
That end,
Comes all too soon,
But the crowning
of every challenge,
Your shining memories!

Excerpts from the book

Of Echoes and Dreams

"You neither sow, nor reap, yet God provides you the most delicious morsels, streams, and lakes to quench your thirst, hill and dale for your home, tall trees to build your nests, and the most beautiful clothing, a change of feathers with every season.”—Saint Francis of Assisi (1182–1226) Sermon for the Birds

Like our First Nations people, the earliest missionaries often went out into the desert and other far-off, lonely places to receive a Vision for their life’s work. Some, like Saint Francis, were especially fond of birds, perhaps for their way of being closest to the Creator Above.
In the dreamy manner of Chagall, a bird sits perched in the dead of winter, storing its song for the coming spring.
Just outside camp, a dreamcatcher hangs, collecting memories and strength of land taken back later when warmth yet visits.
Mother Nature, like people, needs a time of rest to awaken to a renewed world.

“He Was Dene Then!”

Out of the mouths of babes and spouses

Another couple I visited quite often in Deline, was my residential schoolmate John Tutcho and his wife Helena. They made everyone feel right at home in their big log home close to the lake and church.
John was one of those fishermen who simply took great pride in carrying on this Dene tradition of checking the nets every day, so you could always count on having at least a good meal of trout whenever you arrived.
Whenever she was not too busy from cooking and baking, Helena would add to a steady string of dried fish strips on the rack above.
As at most homes there, summer evenings were a time of cooking right outside on a grill, with all kinds of fish fresh out of the water. We also enjoyed the delicacies of fish guts, all cleaned and roasted to perfection.
Helena was originally from overseas in Scotland, and the two would get to talking about their next holiday to visit relatives on over there.
I shared an avid interest in crossword puzzles with her.
She may have had one of her own before, but she shared a decidedly Dene sense of humour, not pulling any punches when she wanted to make her point.
When I asked her if John had changed from the time she first met him, she quickly answered, “Yes, he used to be Dene then!”
The poor guy visibly winced, his shoulders all but disappearing into his favourite armchair. His soaked-to-inking look also spoke of a man who knew that if he so much as dared a word back at his wife, his next meal, if served at all, wouldn’t be quite a hot one.

Some Early Reader Reviews

“I see a special journey that mirrors Antoine’s personal lived experiences. He finds his truth. This journey opens this picture from his earliest engagement with long-time-ago Dene Relatives. He blends this special connection authentically with his story and inserted images which adds poetic colour to his picture—a very special view from the top of this Mountain.” — Gerald Antoine, Dene National Chief

“A powerful collection of stories and life lessons honestly told that all assist in telling a story of renewal of hope. While it is the story of a Dene’s personal journey of self discovery, it’s a very human story that all can identify with. “— George Erasmus OC, Former National Chief

of the Assembly of First Nations
“Child of Morning Star is an exquisite canvas of stories, prayers, paintings, and teachings, with words to help us heal and endure. This is a treat, an opportunity to sit, in gratitude and companionship, with one of the North’s foremost artists and intellectuals.” — Maggie Quirt PhD, Professor of Human Rights & Equity Studies, York University

“We are fortunate when we sit with Antoine Mountain’s writing. Like the way an Elder speaks, this book reveals something whole to us in both its words and form. Sitting with it can be disorienting if we might be too dependent on linear Western European conventions. But it is gravitational and engrossing and a gift to the open-hearted, open-minded learner.” — Loren McGinnis, Host, The Trailbreaker,
CBC North, Radio One