Siksika Nation Rainbow Shawls
A handful of Blackfoot women and two teenage girls gathered at Lavina Crossgun’s Redwings Custom Design Studio on a crisp fall morning in 2006 on the Siksika Nation, about an hour’s drive east of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Each participant was given a two-yard piece of ivory-colored satin cloth. Michelle Newman, a visiting textile designer and teacher, provided a quick demonstration and reviewed the basics of fabric painting, color theory and color mixing, and then set the novice fabric painters to their task.

One by one, the women took turns painting their yards of white cloth. They first started with a gradation technique, creating swaths of color that subtly blend into one another, creating a third color. Gasps of oohs and aahs were frequently heard as the bright colors were applied.

The project was launched in October 2000 when Alberta Premier Ralph Klein made arrangements for Newman to live periodically with Chief Adrian Stimson and his wife Lesley on the Siksika Nation. Explains Newman, “During this time I attended ceremonies, ate Native food and was blessed by an elder on my birthday. As a textile designer, my goal was to implement an arts and crafts cottage-industry program for the tribe’s women and children to establish additional income and gain economic independence. These new skills can be successfully combined with their traditional designs to create new products.”

Noted Crystal Black Horse, who, at 19 years of age, is displaying impressive creative and entrepreneurial qualities, “It gave me new ideas on how to make my fancy dance shawl outfit. It is something I can use in the future, perhaps as a business.” Added Lavina Crossguns, “I will share this craft with the Nation and introduce it to the powwow trail.”
Newman next hopes to find business leaders willing to teach the budding-entrepreneur artists about marketing, product design and development, and packaging. “With the new Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park Interpretive Centre scheduled to open in summer 2007,” notes Newman, “there is a need for quality handmade Native crafts for the gallery and gift shop.” Details: e-mail michellenewmandesigns@hotmail.com

Dancing and Drumming in the White River Valley
The Utes have returned to the White River Valley and the town of Meeker, Colorado. More than a century ago, the “Meeker Massacre” led to the White River Band of Utes being forced out of Colorado at gunpoint and onto a reservation in Fort Duchesne, Utah. The “massacre” occurred when Ute warriors responded to abuses by the BIA Indian agent, Nathan Meeker, and an occupation of the Ute reservation by the U.S. Army. The battles left Nathan Meeker dead, along with dozens of Ute warriors and U.S. soldiers. For more than a century, the Utes have had little connection with their ancestral homelands in western Colorado.

Now, civic leaders of Meeker are working to re-establish a connection with the Utes from Fort Duchesne and welcome them back to the White River Valley. In late September, a group of Ute leaders, dancers and drummers visited Meeker. The group spoke and performed in the Meeker schools and also performed the traditional Bear Dance in City Park. Speaking to a group of civic leaders, Gloria Thompson, a Ute tribal historian and educator, said, “The Meeker tragedy had a profound impact on my Ute people. But we have survived, we are well and we are happy to be here. We are remembering our past, but in a good way, and we are drawing strength from that.”

Liz Turner, a long-term resident of Meeker and one of the organizers of the visit, said, “In the past, everyone has struggled with how to embrace the Utes—what do we say? How do we make them feel welcome? Hopefully, we are moving past that this weekend.” It is hoped the event will become an annual gathering.

Glen Adams, a district ranger with the U.S. Forest Service, has helped facilitate the growing relationship between Ute tribal elders and Meeker community leaders. He became interested in the project when he found out that the Utes have lost all connection to sacred sites on the public lands that surround the town. “I met Clifford Duncan, a Ute tribal elder, at a powwow in a nearby town. He told me that many Utes were interested in coming back to visit special places, but they had a fear of coming to Meeker, and they really did not feel comfortable coming here. That made the hair stand up on the back of my neck.” —Josh McDaniel

National Native News is 20 Years Old
In January 2007, National Native News—the nation’s only syndicated radio newscast that provides the Native perspective in all its stories—will celebrate 20 years on the air. The program is carried on stations in 231 communities in the United States and Canada, with an estimated audience of more than 1 million people.

Producer and anchor Antonia Gonzales (Navajo), says, “NNN works hard to get the Native angle out. Just give us a story and we’ll find out how it impacts Indian Country.” Gonzales recognizes the need to groom more Native broadcast journalists, so they’ve recently added student journalists reporting from across Indian Country on the last Friday of each month.

National Native News is a production of Koahnic Broadcast Corporation, a Native-owned and -operated media corporation based in Anchorage, Alaska. “Koahnic” is an Athabascan word meaning “live air.” The newscast—produced in Albuquerque at the studios of KUNM—is also streamed live on the Internet and offers podcasts. Visit the Web site at nativenews.net.

Young Artist Transcends
Ophelia Smith (Navajo) could be a bitter person, having been born with Down’s syndrome, but instead she has turned her anguish inside out through her talents as an artist. Since childhood she has been drawing and painting to express her rich emotional, creative and intellectual attributes.

When she is not in Window Rock, Arizona stocking vending machines, Smith resides in Santa Fe, where a family friend, Sherry Houck, has encouraged her art career, producing a series of charming greeting cards, as well as prints and original works on paper. Her favorite medium is felt marking pens. In 2005, her work garnered a second-place prize in mixed media at the Gallup Inter-Tribal Ceremonial.

The cards are sold at local businesses, including the acclaimed restaurant Pasquale’s, The Marketplace and the Museum of International Folk Art. Details: 1306 Via Robles, Santa Fe, NM 87501

Marcus Amerman (Choctaw) took the $5,000 Best of Show cash prize at the recent inaugural Cherokee Art Market in Tulsa for his stunning beaded floral vest.

Topping the award winners at the Intertribal Arts Marketplace, held Nov. 3–5 at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, was Alvin John (Diné), who took the Jackie Autry Purchase Prize for his steel sculpture of a Navajo couple. Other major award winners: Cliffton L. Aguilar (Santo Domingo Pueblo), jewelry, with a red spiny oyster shell necklace with silver boxes set with mini-shells; Samuel Manymules (Diné), pottery, with a wood pit-fired water jar glazed with piñon tree sap glaze; Michael Horse (Yaqui/Zuni/Mescalero Apache), painting, with a ledger-style work in earth paints on elk skin; Evelyn Fredericks (Hopi), sculpture and carving, for a bronze basket dancer; Betty David (Spokane Tribe of Indians), textiles and basketry, for her white chilkat jacket with black lambskin fur; and Frank Mirabal (Taos Pueblo), other art forms, for his large drum made from 100-year-old cottonwood with elk hide.

Andrew Conseen Duff (Eastern Band Cherokee) has been elected to a three-year term as chairman of the board of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, following up on his first successful year directing the notable nonprofit organization.

New Mexico sculptor Oreland C. Joe  (Ute/Navajo) has received the prestigious annual Prix de West Purchase Award from the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City for his marble work “Buffalo Sunrise,” which depicts a mature woman praying with an eagle-feather fan.

Margaret Dosedo (Zuni) has been awarded the Spirit of the Heard Award from the Heard Museum in Phoenix for her position as a role model, her efforts to preserve cultural practices and her work with the tribe’s elderly—particularly her creation of the Zuni Senior Center.
Dr. Kelly Moore (Muscogee Creek) of Albuquerque has been selected as the 2006 Indian Physician of the Year by the Association of American Indian Physicians for his work in diabetes with the Indian Health Service.

The Navajo Nation Lady Cats of Gallup, New Mexico and the SBT Shockwave boys’ team from Lapwai, Idaho won the championship games at the July 2006 Native American Basketball Tournament in Phoenix, which drew more than 60 teams this year.

Missy Gullet (Iowa), owner of Missy’s Pet Spa in Palm Desert, California, took the People’s Choice Award at the recent creative competition of the Groom & Kennel Expo in California for her amazing lifelike trim job resembling a buffalo on a chocolate standard poodle.

Some 140 people helped carry a 4,000-pound totem pole to its raising on Oct. 14, 2006 in front of the SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium Community Health Services building in Sitka, Alaska. The Wellbriety Pole carving and raising was led by Wayne Price (see cover, Nov./Dec. 2005 issue). Its design includes medicinal plants like devil’s club, rose hips, soapberries and Hudson Bay tea, a shaman and his partner spirit wolf, rattles and other Tlingit symbols associated with health. Hundreds of people, many seeking to heal themselves of various ailments, helped carve the work over a six-month period. Details: searhc.org

In July, the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska dedicated a sculpture garden and cultural plaza in the Ho-Chunk Village Plaza in Winnebago, Nebraska. The project includes 12 life-size statues created by Charles Aldrich (Winnebago) representing the major tribal clans. The Winnebagos were driven out of Wisconsin in 1865. This endeavor is part of the tribe’s cultural rebirth.

In September, the outstanding nonprofit group Americans for Indian Opportunity shepherded its latest batch of 18 youthful American Indian Ambassadors to Washington, D.C. While there the group toured the Bolivian Embassy, met with staff of various federal offices and elected officials, and attended a benefit silent auction. AIO’s founder and president, LaDonna Harris (Comanche), also donated her considerable collection of Native shawls she has been given over the years to the National Museum of the American Indian. “Never own anything you can’t give away,” Harris advised. Details: 505/842-8677

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will soon house one of the few eastern U.S. academic-based centers focused solely on American Indian issues, research and policy studies. The state is home to the largest Indian population east of the Mississippi. Details: unc.edu/provost/searches.html

David Bennett (Navajo), a 12-year veteran in set construction, props and other aspects of television and theatrical production, has opened a comedy club in Page, Arizona’s Quality Inn. In October, Bennett’s company, Watchdog Productions, trained dozens of Natives in various aspects of mounting stage and television shows. Details: e-mail gustasso@aol.com

W. Richard West, JR. (Southern Cheyenne) the founding director of the National Museum of the American Indian, who guided the exhaustive creation of the impressive Washington D.C. museum from its conception to its completion, has announced he will resign his position at the end of October, 2007. During his time with NMAI, he also oversaw construction of the state-of-the art Cultural Resource Center in Maryland and the expansion of the museum’s beautiful New York City facility.

A common ritual among American Indian tribes is the giving of a feather to a loved one, for marking important achievements in one’s life or as protection. Fittingly, a pink feather has recently been adopted as a symbol by the American Indian Advisory Council to the UC Davis Cancer Center to signify their message of breast health and breast cancer prevention in Native communities. Kellie Stevens (Yerington Paiute) designed the Ribbon of Life feather. It can be found on free pins being distributed by the university and the Turtle Health Foundation. Details: 916/734-5935 or e-mail lnavarro@turtlehealth.org

Frank Blyth (Dakota/Cherokee), founding executive director of Native American Public Telecommunications, retired from his decades-long role at the end of September. Shirley K. Sneve (Rosebud Sioux), NAPT’s director of television and radio, has been promoted to the position of executive director.

On June 26, 2006, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a non-binding statement of the rights of Indigenous peoples in international law. The declaration includes the right to be free from discrimination, the right to exist as distinct peoples, the right of self-determination, land and natural resource rights, and a host of other rights that Indigenous governments and groups have fought to achieve for nearly 30 years. Canada and Russia voted against the measure. It now goes to the U.N. General Assembly for consideration and possible adoption.