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Print2010 September/October On The Wind (News)
Everyone Leaves a Footprint
“Just Do It” has been a very successful motto for the sports-equipment giant Nike over the years. But for many Native American youth, “Just Do It” is easier said than done. They often lack access to playing fields, equipment, organized sports leagues, and even basic sports apparel and shoes. The result is that they are not leading physically active lives, which leads to social problems and rising rates of obesity and other health issues.
About a decade ago, an employee with Nike, Sam McCracken (Sioux/Assiniboine), recognized these issues and went to his company with a bold idea: Could Nike develop a specific line of Native-themed athletic shoes and provide them at discounted rates to Native youth sports programs? To its credit, Nike responded “yes,” and the result is the Nike N7 line. In 2007 Nike went beyond that by creating the N7 Fund, which sets aside a percentage of income from the sale of these shoes to fund Indian sports programs. Today the company is providing sports apparel, shoes and grants to Indian youth sports programs across the United States and Canada.
In April, the company announced that grants totaling $280,000 were being dispersed to 15 sports programs in its 2010 funding cycle. The recipients were selected by the project’s board of directors, which includes McCracken as well as Ernie Stevens (Oneida), Stacey Thunder (Ojibwe), Peter Buffett, Jackie Blackbird (Gros-Ventre/Assiniboine) and Crystal Shawanda (Ojibwe). Programs being funded include the Boys and Girls Club of Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota, Bringing Back the Bow in Oregon, Inter Tribal Sports in San Diego, Native Vision Haudenosaune in New York, the Notah Begay III Foundation (for a soccer program) in New Mexico, the Native American Basketball Invitational in Phoenix, and the Red Lake Nation Boys and Girls Club in Minnesota (site of the terrible school shooting spree several years ago). Applications are now being accepted for the 2011 funding cycle, with details at www.nikeN7.com.
“Nike is proud to help unleash the power of sport in Aboriginal youth,” notes McCracken, general manager of the N7 program. “Involvement in sports and physical activity leads to greater self-confidence, enabling youth to be a force for positive change in their communities. N7 stands for our belief that everyone leaves a footprint and can make a positive difference in their life and community, now and for generations to come.”
He explains the name N7 refers to many things: the fact that seven different shoes are released in the line every six months (on Nov. 7 and in summer); the words Nike and Native; and the four cardinal directions plus up, down and in the center. It also refers to the concept or ethos of living one’s life and considering one’s impact on not just the immediate future, but the next seven (N7) generations.
The latest products released in the N7 line include a basketball shoe, the “Trash Talk,” designed by Phoenix Suns star Steve Nash. It is composed largely of recycled and “waste” materials, and, like the entire line, incorporates an arrow symbol on the tongue, the color turquoise (representing friendship to many tribes), and other Native imagery from N7’s creative director, Wilson Smith.
The entire N7 line can be found at select Nike retail stores throughout Canada and the U.S., or online at www.nike.com. For details on the N7 Fund and the discount program for nonprofit Native-oriented sports programs, visit www.nikeN7.com.
University of Oklahoma Snags Major Collection
The single largest and best private collection of paintings and works on paper by Native artists, the James T. Bialac Native American Art Collection (see Sept./Oct. 2000 and Nov./Dec. 2000 issues), has been donated by the Phoenix-based attorney to the University of Oklahoma. The 4,000 or so works, which also include 1,000 katsinas as well as pottery, textiles, jewelry and sculpture, now fill almost every nook and cranny of Bialac’s home and an additional nearby apartment, reflecting his five decades of systematic, ambitious and perhaps even a bit obsessive collecting of outstanding historic and contemporary Native art.
The bulk of the works is going to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art on the OU campus in Norman. Notes museum director Ghislain d’Humières, “[The collection] contains works of art from every major Native artist working before 1960, and work from many contemporary artists.” In one move, the museum now is home to one of the finest collections of its kind in the world. OU President, and former U.S. Senator and Oklahoma Governor David Boren and his wife Molly Shi Boren, who are also collectors of Indian art (see March/April 2003 issue), played active roles in the university’s acquisition.
A major factor in his decision to donate the works to the university, says Bialac, is the fact that they will be used as an educational tool in a wide range of academic studies and will be displayed in various locations across the campus, including libraries and administration buildings. Some pieces will be selected for touring exhibitions, and paintings currently on loan from the collection will remain in Arizona, displayed at locations within the Arizona court system and at Arizona State University and the University of Arizona, on long-term loans.
“I’m very pleased that the Fred Jones Museum will provide my collection a home in the middle of Indian Country and that it will be available to be seen throughout the university campus,” notes Bialac.
Some of the works will first go on view at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art in October 2011, with new pieces going up every three months. A major exhibition and release of a book on the collection is scheduled for October 2012.
Lost and Found
In March 2003, jeweler and sculptor Nelda Schrupp (Pheasant Rump Nakota—see May/June 2008 issue) parked her utility trailer in a parking garage near a major hotel in Phoenix as the North Dakota–based artist prepared to exhibit at the annual Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market. When she returned to it the next day, she found the vehicle had been broken into, and most of her work—worth about $100,000 in retail value—had been stolen.
The friendly, bright and down-to-earth artist recalls, “It was such a shock! I was stunned. I couldn’t even cry at the time. It took me a good six months to recover, but little by little I began creating new work.” She’d filed a report with the Phoenix Police Department, but was told not to expect to ever see any of the pieces again. One night, though, her phone rang, and a man told her he’d bought one of her rattles in a bar and was willing to sell it back to her. He didn’t know she had caller ID; authorities were able to trace the call and persuade the man to return the piece to her. Next, a friend who frequents the Internet called and said she thought she’d found a pin of Schrupp’s on eBay. Authorities traced it to a pawn shop in north Phoenix, and the shop gave it up in exchange for a promise that it would not be prosecuted. Next, a necklace showed up on eBay, and it too was traced to a Phoenix pawn shop and recovered.
Then, this past March, as Schrupp was preparing to return to Phoenix for the Heard Indian Fair & Market, she received an e-mail from someone who thought he might have one of her stolen works. It was a belt with multiple fixtures, and was in fact the single most valuable piece among those stolen. The caller said he’d inherited it from his father’s estate and had identified it by her trademark, “Nelda,” found on all her major pieces. “‘You are the only jeweler named Nelda I could find on the Internet,’ the caller told me,” relates Schrupp. “A few days later, seven years to the day after the theft, the belt arrived in the mail. I was thrilled, and I’ll tell you it restored my faith in humanity. There are some good people in the world!”
Schrupp’s one-of-a-kind geometrical and abstract-shaped silver-, gold- and copper-based works, all incorporating audio properties, are found in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, the Heard Museum, the University of North Dakota, and in institutions in Europe and Japan. Her work, along with an essay she wrote, is featured in the just-released book Storytelling Time: Native North American Art from the Collections at the University of North Dakota (Hudson Hills Press).
While the return of any of the stolen works is remarkable, some 50 major pieces still are missing. But who knows, perhaps there are some other heroes out there. To reach Nelda Schrupp, e-mail her at Nelda@polarcomm.com or call her at 701/740-7071.
Shards
The Colorado community of Niwot, near Boulder, will mark the celebration of its annual Nostalgia Days on Sept. 11 with the dedication of a new sculpture titled “Eagle Catcher,” carved from a tree by Eddie Running Wolf (Northern Cheyenne). The event is held to honor the region’s Arapaho roots; in fact, the community is named after a famous Arapaho “peace chief,” and many Northern Arapahos are expected to attend the event. Details: 303/931-3084.
The United Houma Nation of Louisiana has been heavily impacted by the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. The state-recognized tribe of 17,000 people located along the southeastern coast of the state has seen heavy oil infiltration of its bayous and fishing grounds, halting shrimping, fishing, crabbing, oystering, trapping and hunting activities. “Our culture and way of life that has passed down generation to generation (may) disappear,” says Chief Brenda Dardar-Robichaux. Details: unitedhoumanation.org or 985/537-8867.
Talented jeweler and sculptor Michael Roanhorse (Diné) has donated a major work for the cancer organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The work, along with a painting by Mateo Romero (Cochiti Pueblo), will be included in a silent auction being held on Aug. 20, from 2 to 5 p.m., in the Terraza Room of the La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe. Details: 505/702-3454.
Robert Redford, the Sundance Institute and the New Mexico State Film Office have launched a film training center aimed at aspiring Native American and Hispanic filmmakers in New Mexico, Milagro at Los Luceros. Opening programs have included a series of workshops sponsored by the Screen Actors Guild, led by SAG’s Task Force for American Indians and actress DeLanna Studi (Cherokee). Among those participating in the first workshops were actor Ed Harris, director Chris Eyre (Cheyenne/Arapaho), actress Irene Bedard (Inuit) and actor Gary Farmer (Cayuga). Details: 505/476-5600.
On Sept. 18, Taos Pueblo in north-central New Mexico will mark the 40th anniversary of the return of its sacred Blue Lake. The lake, part of the pueblo’s traditional lands, was incorporated into the Carson National Forest in 1906. President Richard Nixon signed a bill in 1970 returning it to the pueblo. Details: www.taospueblo.com.
Honoring
The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts has selected a handful of people for various 2010 awards and honors: writer N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa), the dance group Zuni Olla Maidens, artist and teacher Otellie Loloma (Hopi), potter Tonita Martinez (San Ildefonso Pueblo), the Pueblo-focused Chamiza Foundation, educator and administrator Dr. David Warren (Santa Clara Pueblo), blacksmith Jason Reed Brown (Athabascan), painter Hoka Skenandore (Oneida/Oglala/Luiseño), painter Peterson Yazzie (Diné), beadworker Kenneth Williams (Arapaho/Seneca), carver and dancer David Boxley (Tsimshian), weaver DY Begay (Diné), and youth fellows Emanuel Vigil (Jicarilla Apache) and Loren Tsalabutie (Zuni Pueblo).
Dakota Brant (Mohawk) was crowned Miss Indian World in April at the Gathering of Nations in Albuquerque. Brant was raised on the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, Canada.
Photographer Keesic Douglas (Ojibwe) has been selected for a major group photography exhibition in Toronto. Beyond Imaginings: Eight Artists Encounter Ontario’s Greenbelt will be on view at the Harbourfront Centre through June 2011. Details: www.harbourfrontcentre.com/beyondimaginings
Painter and graphic artist, speaker, educator, tribal chief, historian, father and husband Gordon Yellowman, Sr. (Cheyenne/Arapaho) of El Reno, Oklahoma was named the 2010 Red Earth Festival Honored One during the annual festival in Oklahoma City in June.
The immensely talented novelist, poet, journalist, essayist, playwright and teacher Linda Hogan (Chickasaw) was recently nominated for the position of U.S. Poet Laureate; she is perhaps the first Native American to receive this honor.
Passages
Musician, artist, poet and cartoonist (“Mutton Man”) Vincent Craig (Navajo) passed away on May 14 after a long fight with cancer. He was 59. The former Marine was a very popular performer, who mixed accomplished musical skills with a charming and often hilarious presentation.
Artist Ernest Franklin, Sr. (Navajo) died on March 22 at age 68. He was best known for his watercolors of cowboy scenes but was also a talented silversmith, leather carver and rawhide braider, sculptor, potter and graphic artist. He illustrated several of Tony Hillerman’s books, and four of his drawings accompanied the Hillerman short story “Chee’s Witch” in the Fall 1988 issue of Native Peoples.
Art Festival in the Aloha State
Hawaii is packed with outstanding Native Hawaiian artists, but due to the islands’ isolated location, the Native arts scene there is still in its infancy. Many world-class artists will emerge from this realm in the decades ahead, but you can get a jump on other collectors by attending the second annual HOEA Fine Arts Market, hosted by the fledgling nonprofit group Hawaiian Ohana for Education in the Arts, Sept. 23–26 on the Big Island.
The event kicks off on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. with a reception and awards presentation for the juried art show at Pu’uopelu, the Richard Smart historic home in Waimea. The next day will feature an exhibition of feather work, jewelry, prints and traditional weapons drawn from the school’s student body along with a fashion show, all at the Parker Ranch Center. Action returns to Waimea and Pu’uopelu for the general art market on Saturday and Sunday, with hula dancing, live music and traditional foods, plus art demonstrations and another fashion show. Some 50 adult artists are expected to show and sell their work. Last year the event drew between 1,000 and 2,000 people, who spent at least $33,000 on artworks.
“We were pretty pleased with the response last year,” says Fran Sanford, HOEA project director. “There’s a lot of Native Hawaiians who live in the area and have artistic skills, but who have little or no public visibility. Our goal is to increase the availability of their work and to help build their skills in both their artistic fields and the marketing of their work. In this, we are following the models of what’s happened with the Maori artists in New Zealand and the American Indians, as with the Santa Fe Indian Market. We just completed our summer student session and had excellent presentations of the business side of art by Sig Zane (the internationally renowned apparel designer from Hilo) and how to prepare an art booth by Roen Hufford and her mother Marie McDonald (well-known makers of tapa cloth works).
HOEA is a project of the Keomailani Hanapi Foundation and is funded in part by the Administration for Native Americans and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. For details on the festival or the organization, call 808/885-6541 or visit www.khf-hoea.org.
Elsewhere
Catch the 27th annual Grand Canyon Music Festival, Aug. 27–Sept. 12, at the South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park. Highlights of the weekend and midweek concerts this year include Grammy Award–winning flautist Robert Mirabal and Hawaiian slack key guitar virtuoso Jeff Peterson in concert with the innovative sounds of Ethel’s TruckStop, Sept. 10–11 at Shrine of the Ages; and a free concert of new classical works by emerging Hopi and Navajo composers at the Grand Canyon Community Building, Sept. 12 at 5 p.m. For tickets and details, call 917/856-0196 or visit www.grandcanyonmusicfest.org.
Catch the second annual Native American Heritage Days, Aug. 28–29, Garfield Park, Indianapolis, IN, presented by the Indiana Native American Cultural Association. Events include a powwow (which begins with a grand entry at noon on Saturday), children’s activities, arts and crafts demonstrations, storytelling, arts and crafts vendors, educational booths, live music and stickball games. 877/273-8199 or 317/849-4552
Attend a book signing and talk by David Seals at various dates September through November across the West and Midwest. Seals wrote the book and screenplay for the classic comedy Powwow Highway. His newest nonfiction book is titled The New Powwow Highway: The Real AIM of Ward Churchill and the Murder of Anna Mae Aquash. www.davidseals.com
Go west to the 40th annual Barona Powwow, Sept. 3–6, Lakeside, CA, hosted by the Barona Band of Mission Indians. There will be some 200 dancers, a hand drum contest, Native foods, and arts and crafts. Activities take place Friday 6–11 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday 1–11 p.m. Free. 619/443-6612 or www.barona-nsn.gov
Motor over to the 64th annual Shinnecock Indian Powwow, Sept. 3–6, near Southampton, Long Island, NY. This noteworthy festival in the New York City urban area is especially poignant this year because the tribe just received its federal recognition in June. It includes competitive dancing and drumming, more than 90 arts and crafts booths, cultural demonstrations, a fire-lighting ceremony at dusk, and traditional (including succotash) and non-traditional foods. 631/283-6143 or www.shinnecocknation.com
Paddle to the seventh annual Mill-Luck Salmon Celebration, Sept. 4–5, Mill Casino, North Bend, OR, hosted by the Coquille Indian Tribe. Activities include canoe races (and this year canoe “rides” on Sunday, 1–4 p.m.), exhibition dancing and music, a salmon bake dinner (noon–6 p.m. both days), cultural exhibitions and demonstrations, an arts and crafts market, children’s activities, and a Saturday-evening concert inside the casino’s Salmon Room with the stellar vocalist and musician Joanne Shenandoah. Admission to the salmon bake is $17 for children under 12 and $25 for all others; concert tickets are $18. 800/953-4800 or www.themillcasino.com
Spend a day or two at the Navajo Nation Fair, Sept. 6–12, Window Rock, AZ. Billed as “the world’s largest American Indian fair,” it includes an all-Indian rodeo, the Miss Navajo Pageant, demonstration singing and dancing, a competition powwow, livestock displays, a carnival, a free barbecue on Sept. 9, and country/western concerts featuring major acts. General admission is $5. www.navajonationfair.com
Enjoy an evening at the Community Spirit Awards, Sept. 10, SteppingStone Theatre, St. Paul, MN, hosted by the outstanding nonprofit arts organization the First Peoples Fund of Rapid City, SD. The event will honor its 2010 award winners (see May/June 2010 issue, p. 16), with entertainment by local Indian dancers and performers, along with Pura Fé Crescioni and Jennifer Kreisberg of Ulali. Admission is $35; tickets available at the door or online at www.steppingstonetheatre.org.
Don’t miss the fifth annual Southeastern Tribes Cultural Arts Celebration, Sept. 17–18, Cherokee, NC, which focuses on the arts and athletic prowess of the Eastern Cherokee, Creek, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole tribes. Regional arts include rivercane weaving and stamped pottery, and demonstrations of bark structure building and blowgun use. 800/438-1601 or www.cherokee-nc.com
Hit the road for the 22nd annual Chickasaw Festival, Sept. 25–Oct. 2, at locations in Ada, Sulphur and Tishomingo, OK. This large gathering includes gospel singing, arts and crafts sales and an art exhibition, a princess pageant, softball and golf tournaments, cultural demonstrations, and, on Oct. 2, a parade, a traditional meal and the State of the Nation address by Chickasaw Nation Governor Bill Anoatubby. 800/593-3356 or www.chickasaw.net
Sit a spell at the All Roads Film Festival, Sept. 28–Oct. 3, National Geographic Building, Washington, D.C., which focuses on films by Indigenous filmmakers worldwide. Films to be screened include Boy (from New Zealand), Lemon Lima (about a Yup’ik teenager of Alaska) and Up Heartbreak Hill (about three Navajo teens). The festival also includes a photography exhibition and a dance party. www.nationalgeographic.com/allroads
Blaze a trail to the fifth annual Cherokee Art Market, Oct. 9–10, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, Catoosa, OK. More than 150 top-notch artists will display and sell a wide range of work, while a number of dance groups and musicians will provide entertainment, along with the run of the International Cherokee Film Festival. Prize money totaling $75,000 spread over 20 categories will be awarded. Admission $5. www.cherokeeartmarket.com
Dance over to the sixth annual Hunting Moon Pow Wow, Oct. 22–24, Potawatomi Bingo Casino, Milwaukee, WI, hosted by the Forest County Potawatomi Community. Grand entries will be held on Friday at 6 p.m., on Saturday at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., and on Sunday at noon. The host drum is Midnite Express. The event also includes arts and crafts vendors and other live entertainment. www.paysbig.com/about/culture/powwow.htm
Get your tickets for a Native American concert and dance exhibition, Oct. 30, 7 p.m., the Clayton Center for the Arts, Maryville College, Maryville, TN. 865/981-8590 or www.claytonartscenter.com
