Whether it’s a pair of fringe earrings or a stunning dress, some local Indigenous designers are working to promote sustainability behind every single one of their statement pieces.

Erica Batten is an Indigenous designer and owner of Batts ‘n Barnacles, a custom production fashion line in London, Ont. She often finds inspiration for her fashion lines by spending time in nature. She is now producing designs based on sustainability, a common Indigenous practice.

One of her outfits has a second layer of fabric underneath the outer layer and is designed with fabric paint.

“And so later on, if you want to change it up and make something look a little different, instead of wearing the same thing over and over again, you can adjust it and make it new again,” Batten said.

The inspiration behind her dual-style design is based on Batten’s observation of how her family, when hunting for deer or rabbit, would use every single part of the animal so nothing would go to waste. They would eat the meat, use pelts and skin for clothing and bones as tools, among other things. 

“So basically, [we are] appreciating what the Earth gives us and using it in a way that we can show our appreciation back,” Batten said.

Cheap, unbeatable prices 

Daniel Pelletier (whose spirit name is Megisa Magawa Tick) is Metis of Ojibwe and French origin. He is also the owner of Bear’s Den Native Crafts in London where he sells a variety of products including his own hand-crafted drums and real raccoon tail hats.

Pelletier’s daughter, Natalie, designs fringe earrings for the shop. She said Indigenous designers and craftsmen pour hours into everything they create and some of those designs end up as fast-fashion sold for a much lower price.

Fast-fashion is a term used to describe cheap clothing that is mass produced but also of such low quality that it often fails to last longer than a few months.

“Then you have native artists who are trying to create and make, and they can’t sell their product to people because ‘Oh I can get that for a dollar [elsewhere]’,” said Natalie.

A lose-lose game

However, buying from fast-fashion brands is a lose-lose game. Dirt-cheap clothes and accessories stolen from Indigenous creative types aren’t meant to last long and put Indigenous designers and artists at a disadvantage. The short-lived products also often end up in landfills.

“I sell leather belts, they’re real leather belts, they’re $40 plus your tax,” Pelletier said. “You can buy a belt around the corner from here for $10. I always tell people ‘Good luck with that’. A $10 belt would last you, if you’re lucky, three months. A $40 belt would last you three years.” 

Nevertheless, Pelletier and his daughter take pride in their creativity and said they won’t sacrifice their quality to compete with fast-fashion giants.

“I think I’ve re-made one pair of earrings probably like eight times because I just wouldn’t sell them, the way that they were,” Natalie said.

Pelletier’s been running Bear’s Den for over 12 years and is inspired to continue selling high-quality, sustainable products through the positive feedback he receives from customers.

“Every week, weekends especially, when people come in the store… I get ‘Wow’, ‘This is amazing’, ‘My God, I’ve never seen any place like this before”,” said Pelletier.

He added, “Thank you Creator for the gift, thank you for helping me help people.” 

Art Gallery concert to celebrate Mexican Aztec, Southwest Native and Mayan music – El Camino College The Union

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – When Phyllis Webstad was six, in 1973, she was sent to an Indian boarding school.

She wore the orange shirt her grandmother bought her on her first day.

When she arrived, she and the other children were forced to change into new clothes, and her shirt was taken away from her. She never saw it again.

In 2021, Canada declared September 30 as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, known more commonly as Orange Shirt Day. It’s not officially recognized as a holiday in the U.S. yet, but many people wear orange shirts and remember those affected by the injustices of the Indian boarding school system.

This year, relatives of boarding school survivors are creating a mural to remember both those who did and didn’t come home.

“People tend to think of it as historical, and doesn’t touch our generations today, but it does. The purpose of this mural is not only to educate. The purpose of Orange Shirt Day is so that even our non-native neighbors will have an understanding of what our people, indigenous people, have endured,” said Agnes Yellowbear, one of the artists creating the mural and a daughter of a boarding school survivor.

In 1879, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School opened in Pennsylvania. Thousands of students from more than 140 tribes walked through the school’s doors before it closed in 1918, but the effects of the trauma inflicted on many of the students who attended still have a lasting impact today.

According to the Carlisle Indian School Project, Carlisle was one of at least 408 federal Indian boarding schools in the U.S. The schools were meant to assimilate indigenous children into American society by erasing their native heritage.

Two indigenous boys who lived in North Dakota, Edward Upright and Amos LaFromboise, were sent to Carlisle in 1879. They were among the 186 children who died at the school, and their bodies are only just now coming home.

The project’s website said that many students were subjected to both physical and sexual abuse at Carlisle and the other boarding schools.

“My father has shared a lot, from his first years in life until he was six years old when authorities came to take him and his two younger siblings. He told me about the day, he remembers all of it. He remembers the punishment, the cruelty,” said Yellowbear.

Yellowbear said the trauma inflicted on her father has carried over into following generations, and it was a cycle she had to break.

She said the butterflies and dragonflies in the mural she’s been working on with fellow artist Melanie Moniz represent resilience and strength.

Moniz said they’re also seen as carriers of spirits.

The 18 flowers in the mural represent the 18 Indian boarding schools that have been identified so far in North Dakota alone.

“The hope and the goal of this mural is to empower those most impacted and bring awareness because ultimately we can’t create a better North Dakota if we don’t have all of the truth and all of the discussions on the table,” said Melanie Moniz, the other artist working on the mural and daughter of a boarding school survivor.

In 2022, the Interior Department reported that more than 500 children had died across the 400 schools identified in the U.S. They said they found 50 gravesites, but that they’d likely find more.

A Remembrance Walk will be held tomorrow from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. starting at Custer Park. The finished mural will be unveiled around 3:30 p.m. at Art Alley.

Copyright 2023 KFYR. All rights reserved.

Artist Monte Yellow Bird Sr. stands by his military sculpture, “Remember who you are, Remember where you come from, you will always be remembered,” shown in this photo by Karen LoneFight. This and another sculpture were placed near the new Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation’s new Administration Headquarters, west of New Town.

NEW TOWN – Sculptures by native artist Monte Yellow Bird Sr., known to the art world as “Black Pinto Horse,” were installed on Tuesday in the southern courtyard of the new Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation’s new Administration Headquarters, west of New Town.

Various art/design projects for the new tribal building were originally put up on bids by the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation to artists.

Yellow Bird said he submitted bids for these two sculptures and was fortunate to have been chosen. The two themes for these projects were spirituality and a military memorial.

The military sculpture, “Remember who you are, Remember where you come from, you will always be remembered,” reflects the Vietnam era, although it honors all the military branches, from those who are presently serving and who have served in the past as well as recognizing the first indigenous warriors of this continent as many of our tribe’s service men and women are descendent of,” said Yellow Bird.

“I chose this era because it was a very significant conflict/war/police action to me personally as I watched it on our first black-and-white TV as a young boy. It also influenced me artistically in my early years as a young artist and it was reflected in my earlier art themes.

This spirituality-themed sculpture, “Stand before all of creation and remember all the people with prayer,” by artist Monte Yellow Bird Sr., was installed near the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation’s Administration Headquarters, west of New Town, along with another sculpture by Yellow Bird. Photo by Karen LoneFight.

“As I began to develop as an artist my themes began to focus on spirituality, and formed the foundation of later work, although my new work is still tied to my earlier influences and original themes of warriorship, honor, traditions and culture. It became the catalyst for my interest in 1800s Plains Indian ledger art, which I am currently known for today and have collectors worldwide,” he said.

The second sculpture is “Stand before all of creation and remember all the people with prayer.”

Yellow Bird said the sculptures were placed near the Administration Headquarters on “two beautifully designed pedestals.”

A member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, Yellow Bird grew up at White Shield. He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts in Sante Fe, New Mexico, and graduated in 2004 from Minot State University with a bachelor of fine arts degree. His achievements include being the only U.S. artist to be selected to represent the United States and his Native people at the 2021 Dubai Art Expo, a three-day gathering of more than 500 artists from more than 170 nations. Yellow Bird lives in New Mexico, where he owns and operates Black Pinto Horse Fine Arts, a fine arts and educational company, at Rio Rancho.

This spirituality-themed sculpture, “Stand before all of creation and remember all the people with prayer,” by artist Monte Yellow Bird Sr., was installed near the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation’s Administration Headquarters, west of New Town, along with another sculpture by Yellow Bird. Photo by Karen LoneFight.

Artist Monte Yellow Bird Sr. stands by his military sculpture, “Remember who you are, Remember where you come from, you will always be remembered,” shown in this photo by Karen LoneFight. This and another sculpture were placed near the new Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation’s new Administration Headquarters, west of New Town.

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An exhibit that flows like water: “Boundless” at Amherst College showcases over three centuries of Native American art and writing

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  “Boundless,” the new exhibit at Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, has been curated by Heid E. Erdrich, a writer, poet, educator and member of the Objibwe people. Image from Heid E. Erdrich website

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  Amherst College K-12 Program Manager Olivia Feal, left, students Ziji Zhou and Kalea Ramsey, and Curatorial Affairs Director Lisa Crossman (seen from behind) view part of the exhibit “Boundless” at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College. STAFF PHOTO/DAN LITTLE

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  Ernesto Monter views white ash canoe paddles made by artist and carver Jonathan James-Perry in “Boundless,” an exhibit of Native American art and writing at Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum. STAFF PHOTO/DAN LITTLE

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  Student Ziji Zhou checks out some of the artwork in “Boundless” at the Mead Art Museum. From left are works “Collider Study #1” and “BREACH #2” by Courtney Leonard; at right is “Of Whales in Paint, in Teeth, &c.” by Frank Stella. STAFF PHOTO/DAN LITTLE

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  Artwork displayed in the exhibit “Boundless” at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College includes “BREACH #2” by Courtney Leonard, foreground, as well as “Of Whales in Paint, in Teeth, &c.,” by Frank Stella. STAFF PHOTO/DAN LITTLE

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  “Boundless” features a wide range of work by Native American writers and artists, including sculpture, traditional crafts, and writing that in some cases dates back over three centuries. STAFF PHOTO/DAN LITTLE

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  “Wuskeekuchuhshun” (new beginning) by Jonathan James-Perry is a medallion made of copper, whelk shell beads, rose gold orb beads, glass beads and smoked deerskin. STAFF PHOTO/DAN LITTLE

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  A hand-sculpted quahog shell wampum pendant and beads by Elizabeth James-Perry, titled “Killer Whale,” are part of smaller exhibit, “Seeping In,” of Native American art at the Mead Art Museum. STAFF PHOTO/DAN LITTLE

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  In “Boundless,” reissued older novels by Louise Erdrich, a sister of exhibit curator Heid E. Erdrich, display new covers based on paintings by the late artist-poet Fritz Scholder, a friend of Louise Erdrich. STAFF PHOTO/DAN LITTLE

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  “Boundless” features a range of objects and texts — sculpture, historic and contemporary writing, photographs, paintings and prints, quillwork, basketry and more — by Native American writers and artists. STAFF PHOTO/DAN LITTLE

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  “Boundless” curator Heid E. Erdrich likens working on the exhibit to following the flow of water: “I was carried by words, titles, images, people, voices, histories.” STAFF PHOTO/DAN LITTLE

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  “Dog with headdress,” drawing by Mary Sully, circa 1940s-1950s. Mary Sully was a Dakota artist who traced some of her ancestry back to Thomas Sully, a noted British-American painter of the early 19th century. Staff photo/Steve Pfarrer

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  “No Wall,” a 2019 pigment print by Cara Romero (Chemehuevi, American), is part of “Boundless” at Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum. Staff Photo/Steve Pfarrer

Staff Writer

Published: 9/29/2023 11:28:42 AM

Modified: 9/29/2023 11:27:55 AM

From the pages of a 17th century Algonquin-language Bible, to a 2021 painting that celebrates the majesty of whales, a new exhibit at the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College devoted to Native American art is built around the theme of water.

“Boundless” features work by more than 150 Native American artists and writers — sculpture, prints, paintings, basketry, historic and contemporary writing — with some materials in the exhibit going back over three centuries.

Designed to recognize “Indigenous creativity, resistance and persistence,” as exhibit notes put it, the show also represents a close collaboration between the Mead Museum and Amherst College’s Archives & Special Collections, which has an extensive collection of Native American literature.

And as curator Heid E. Erdrich sees it, the materials in the exhibit flow together in a way that makes connections between past and present, and between many of the Native people whose work is represented in the show.

“I was struck by how many of the names of Native people in the East are connected to water,” said Erdrich, a poet, writer, and educator from Minnesota. A member of the Objibwe people, Erdrich also has a deep background in curating Native American art exhibitions.

As Erdrich writes in exhibit notes, the Nipmuc “are described as People of the Freshwater; the Niantic as People of the Long-Necked Waters because their lands are near a bay; the Narragansett are People of the Point or of the Salt Pond; Shinnecock can be translated to People of the Stony Shore.”

The winner of two Minnesota Book Awards and a number of other writing honors, Erdrich comes from a family with impressive literary credentials: One of her sisters is Louise Erdrich, the acclaimed novelist, and another, Angela Erdrich, illustrates children’s books.

In a recent phone call from her home in Minneapolis, Heid Erdrich said “Boundless” is the most extensive exhibit she’s ever worked on, but a rewarding one nevertheless, given the deep reservoir of material she was able to draw on, especially from the college, which acquired a large collection of Native American writing in 2013 and has since added to it.

“As a writer, it was fascinating to be able to see this material,” said Erdrich, who began her research on the exhibit in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, with a deep online dive into the Amherst collection.

Lisa Crossman, the Mead’s director of curatorial affairs, says the museum has a fairly small collection of Native American art. But after talking with professors such as Lisa Brooks and Kiara Vigil, who teach Native American studies at Amherst, and Mike Kelly, the head of the college’s Special Collections department, she realized the Mead could create an exhibit that combined art and writing.

“The exhibit is really about looking at the connections between many of these materials,” she said during a recent tour of the gallery.

“Boundless” relies on some loans from other Northeast collections and a few further afield. The exhibit predominantly features work from eastern Indigenous people; an advisory committee including members from the Nipmuc, Wampanoag, Shinnecock and Mohegan Tribal Nations, among others, assisted in development.

“A big part of my work in 2021 was meeting Indigenous people from Massachusetts and other parts of the East and getting their input,” said Erdrich, who’s spent some previous time in New England and Massachusetts (she’s a graduate of Dartmouth College). “That was really important to me.”

Of whales and more

“Boundless” integrates its work by theme and feel rather than presenting material chronologically or by medium. In the Mead’s main gallery, contemporary paintings and sculpture share space with aged documents and books by Indigenous authors, such as an 1887 volume, “History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan,” with birchbark binding and decoration made from porcupine quills.

Also on view is “Collider Study #1,” a large mixed-media and acrylic painting from 2021 by Courtney Leonard (Shinnecock) that depicts the skeletal remains of a humpback whale killed off the coast of New England in 2007 when it was stuck by a fishing boat.

In an artist’s note, Leonard says the painting, which includes a red poppy — a symbol of rebirth and healing — reflects how “pain and loss can also lead to healing and continuity,” while also noting that a whale “would traditionally feed the entire Shinnecock Nation during harsh times.”

Near Leonard’s painting, meantime, is a colorful sculpture by Frank Stella, “Of Whales in Paint, in Teeth, &c.,” made of large shards of painted aluminum. According to exhibition notes, Stella based the 1990 work on a chapter from Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” in which Native, white and ancient people alike are described as savage.

This and a few other non-Native artworks have been added to “Boundless” to provide additional context. As one example, there’s an 1855 painting of the Connecticut River, as viewed from Mount Holyoke, by Edmund C. Coates, a New York artist connected with the Hudson River School of painting.

In exhibit notes, Erdrich says the painting, while capturing a beautiful and peaceful scene, can pose a problem for Native viewers — how can they look at it and not think of Indigenous people who lived along the Connecticut “and were driven from their homelands in the years just before this image was made?”

Other sections of the exhibit showcase work by artists who share some links, such as the Dakota, Lakota, Hochunk and other Great Plains groups that can be linked culturally or biologically.

That includes work by Mary Sully, a Dakota artist of the early/mid 20th century whose paintings and illustrations won attention for the way she merged classic Native American designs with Art Nouveau and other abstract forms.

In one of the exhibit’s grimmer connections, it’s noted that Sully was related to Alfred Sully, a 19th century American painter and Army officer who took part in massacres of Plains Indians in the 1860s and 1870s and at one point was married to a Dakota woman.

Alfred Sully was in turn a son of Thomas Sully, a noted painter in the early 19th century who produced portraits of Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson, among others. Mary Sully was a great-granddaughter of Thomas Sully.

“The connections in this exhibit run along some very deep and surprising lines,” said Crossman.

Accompanying “Boundless” is a smaller exhibit, “Seeping In,” by fiber artist and jewelry designer Elizabeth James-Perry (Aquinnah Wampanoag), a former artist-in-residence at the college. It features necklaces and other works for which James-Perry has drawn in part on ancestral traditions of the Connecticut River valley.

“Boundless” runs through Jan. 7, 2024 and will be followed by a smaller version of the exhibit in the spring “so we can show some of the materials we couldn’t fit in this exhibit,” Erdrich said with a laugh. “There is so much to share.”

Heid E. Erdrich will gave a gallery talk at “Boundless” on Oct. 12.

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More than $1 million in Western American art was recently sold at the 18th annual Eiteljorg Quest for the West Art Show and Sale that ran  Sept. 8-9. About 200 artworks from the recent sale, including paintings and sculptures by the Quest for the West artists, remain on view at the Eiteljorg Museum for the public to see.

The Quest for the West public exhibition runs through Oct. 8, and is included with regular museum admission. A curator-led gallery tour of the Quest for the West exhibit takes place at noon Oct. 6 and is included with regular admission; museum members get in for free.

The Eiteljorg Museum will host the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Community Celebration with artists, storytelling and cultural presentations from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Oct. 7, with regular admission. Then on Oct. 9, admission will be free for Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Looking ahead to the fall, the Eiteljorg, in partnership with Arte Mexicano en Indiana, has a series of exhibits and events related to Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead).

From Oct. 14 to Nov. 19, the museum will host an exhibition by Vincennes-based artist Fernando Lozano, We Remember / Nostotros Recordamos, that reflects upon the lives lost during the COVID-19 pandemic to date in all 50 states and U.S. territories. It is included with regular museum admission.

From Oct. 10 to Nov. 3, the museum and its partners will host a Community Altar and Ofrenda Exhibit. Community groups create ofrendas, or altars, in honor of loved ones who have passed. This exhibit has free admission.

From 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 21, the museum will host the Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) Community Celebration, featuring music and dance performances, cultural presentations, a Mercado (marketplace) and the popular Catrina parade. Admission to the event and the museum is free that day.

For details, visit the website at eiteljorg.org/diademuertos.

A fascinating exhibition of contemporary Native American art opens at the Eiteljorg on Nov. 11 and continues through Feb. 25, 2024. UNSETTLE / Converge: The 2023 Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship will feature the works of five Native artists from the U.S. and Canada who create multi-media, ceramic sculpture, assemblage, beadwork and photography. The exhibition will be included with regular museum admission.

For more about these and other events, visit the Eiteljorg Museum’s website at Eiteljorg.org.

The Eiteljorg is at 500 W. Washington St., Indianapolis.

Over 150 Indigenous artists will take part in the 18th annual Cherokee Art Market, Oct. 14-15, inside Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Tulsa. Among them is Cherokee Nation artist Kindra Swafford, of Tahlequah, who is participating for the fourth year. 

“My favorite thing about CAM is that from the moment you walk in, to the moment you break down your booth, there is an incredible environment,” Swafford says. “We are all helping each other, checking in with others to see if they need anything. We cheer each other on in sales and with awards. You feel like a big family and you can hear the laughter echoing down the halls of the ballroom area.”

Swafford took part in a Q&A to discuss their work and more. 

How do you describe your art?

My work consists of a variety of mediums, but I lean toward watercolor as my primary medium. I try to keep learning and pushing my art to new heights. I want to continuously change and grow — who doesn’t? I love creating fun compositions from my personal experiences or adventures in nature. My art is described as saturated subjects over-imposed to create a glitch. A glitch is made by duplicating the same image with overly saturated hues. It’s unique and jarring at first and I love it. You can find some of my watercolors to be 3-inches across and others that are almost 8-foot-tall. I am known for creating large watercolors. I also love doing pop art from shows, games and comics.