Ahmoo (meaning "bee" in Ojibwe) Angeconeb was born April 19, 1955, in Sioux Lookout, Ontario. His father was a commercial fisherman, boat maker, trapper and hunter. His mother raised ten children. Angeconeb recalls starting to draw when he was five. "I used a .22 caliber lead bullet as a pencil." He later studied at York University, Lakehead University and both graduated and taught at Dalhousie University in Halifax. An early influence was the late Woodland artist Norval Morisseau but Angeconeb later incorporated elements from the diverse cultures and traditions he found from his wide-ranging travel in the 1970s and 80s through Europe, Asia and North Africa.