FeedOn The Wind: Honoring - September/October 2011
Honoring
The second annual Native American Indigenous Image Awards were handed out at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino at Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico on April 29. Georgina Lightning proudly walked away with the awards for best feature film and best actress for the dramatic movie she
wrote and directed, Older Than America. Other awards went to Gary Farmer for his role in Good Neighbors, to Chase Manhattan for best album single (“The Original 2 Step”), to Native Peoples magazine for best periodical, to Desiree Dorion for best country album (Soul Back
Jack), to Supaman for best hip-hop album (Deadly Penz), to Pow Wow Comedy Jam for outstanding comedy performance, to The Jir Project Band for best blues jazz album (Sun Child), to Search for the World’s Best Indian Taco for best short film, to Eagle & Hawk for best rock metal
album (The Great Unknown), and to Reel Injun for best documentary. Musician and producer Micki Free was presented with the 2011 NAIIA Honorary Award.
Whitney Carter (Chippewa/Paiute/Klamath) attended the 2010 Miss World Pageant in China as the U.S. Virgin Islands representative. The Emory University senior is working on a double major in art history and education, and is a painter and model in her free time.
The Sundance Institute has selected its 2011 NativeLab Fellows: Jason Asenap (Comanche/Muskogee Creek) for his film-in-progress Rugged Guy, Daniel Edward Hyde (Navajo) for The Way Things Are, Ty Sanga (Native Hawaiian) for Kalama Brothers and Tracy Rector
(Seminole/Mississippi Choctaw) for Clearwater. “What resonates for us at Sundance Institute is that these stories are authentic and personal, and that the filmmakers are not afraid to take risks,” notes Sundance Institute Executive Director Keri Putnam.
Douglas K. Limón (Ojibwe) has been awarded a $20,000 folk and traditional arts grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board to create four traditional beaded cradleboards and to document the work and present public events on the work.
The First Nations Composer Initiative has bestowed grants on 11 Native recipients through its Common Ground program, including Dark Water Rising (Lumbee) of North Carolina to support a music tour, Lewis DeSoto (Cahuilla) of California to support a production mixing Cahuilla bird songs and opera, and Wade Fernandez (Menominee) of Wisconsin to assist with production of a CD of various musicians. Details: www.fnci.org
The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts has selected the following artists for its 2011 fellowship program: jeweler Orlando Dugi (Diné—see Jan./Feb. 2011 issue), painter and ledger artist Chris Pappan (Kaw/Osage/Sioux—see Jan./Feb. 2011 issue), potter Pam Lujan Hauer (Taos Pueblo—see July/Aug. 2011 issue),
painter Ryan Singer (Diné—see cover story Jan./Feb. 2009) and weaver Melissa Cody (Diné—see Jan./Feb. 2010 issue). Residency fellowships were provided to painter Ryan Lee Smith (Cherokee) and weaver Lisa Hageman Yahgulanaas (Haida). Lifetime achievement awards were bestowed on painter Tonita Peña (San Ildefonso Pueblo), painter Popovi Da (San Ildefonso Pueblo) and potter Joseph Lonewolf (Santa Clara Pueblo).
The Iroquois Nationals beat Team USA 11-10 at the World Indoor Lacrosse Championship in the Czech Republic in late May and ended up with a secondplace overall finish.
Marjorie Tahbone (Inupiaq Eskimo/Kiowa) was crowned Miss Indian World at the Gathering of Nations on April 30 in Albuquerque.
Passages
Jacob Koopee, the talented Hopi potter who took the Best of Show awards in 2005 at both the Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market (the only person to ever do so), died in early June. He was 41 years young. The groundbreaking Hopi jeweler Lawrence Saufkie and his son Wilmer Saufkie were both killed in a car accident in early June. Lawrence helped develop and popularize the Hopi relief silver-onsilver technique.
Hopi potter Diane Tahbo (also known as Deanna, Dianna and Dianne) passed away in early June. She was born in 1941. The sister of potter Mark Tahbo, she was well known for her fine vessels decorated with moths and butterflies.
Actor Gordon Tootoosis (Cree) passed away after battling pneumonia on July 5, at age 69. Prominent films and television shows included Alien Thunder (1974, with Chief Dan George), 52 episodes of North of 60, Black Robe, Legends of the Fall (with Brad Pitt and Anthony
Hopkins), DreamKeeper, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee and Wapos Bay.
Acoma Pueblo potter Dorothy Torivio, a master of the “fine-line eye-dazzler” decorative technique on seed jar–type vessels, passed away in early June. She was born in 1946.
