Preserving culture through artwork
Artists honored with Community Spirit Awards

By Lori Lea Pourier    

Clyde Estey believes working with your hands is good.  "...creating something beautiful, keeping your mind occupied, and weaving a basket is good for the soul," he says.  At 77, Estey is a fifth-generation basket weaver from the White Earth Anishinaabeg Reservation in northern Minnesota.

When he was very young, he realized he needed to contribute to the preservation of the art of black ash basketry.  Although he is fighting cancer, Estey still works to pass on his teachings to the younger generations.

Estey was among six American Indian artists who received $5,000 Community Spirit Awards.  The First Peoples Fund, an organization committed to sustaining the creative work of American Indian artists, established the annual national fellowships for artists who have, through their artistic careers, made substantial contributions to their communities.

His eyes glisten and he smiles with pride as he shows baskets his two sons and grandson made.  His expression turns somber as he begins a story:  "It used to be we only had to go a little ways to get our materials, but today, with all of the pesticides and clear-cutting in the area, we have to travel 15 miles.

The pesticides used by farmers in the area have run off into the black ash forest, where Anishinabe have lived for centuries.  "The trees have brown spots in them now so we cannot use then," Estey says.

To further exacerbate the situation, Potlatch Corp. is clear cutting many of the trees on what were historically tribal lands.  Ironically, the White Earth Tribe's own forestry department uses the same methods.  "Even our own people don't realize the value of the wood," he says, holding a 2-foot piece of wood in his hands.

Estey tells us how he and his son, Brad, who works for the tribe's forest department, demonstrated to the tribe the cultural value of the black ash.  "The tribe isn't clear cutting those trees now," he says proudly.  The tribe now preserves the young trees where there are black ash.

Each year the First Peoples Fund will honor artists who, like Estey exemplify traditional cultural values and ways of life by sharing their creative talents and skills with others in their communities.  These artist must have demonstrated a strong connection and direct ties to an Indian community; a history of actions dedicated to building the strength of native communities; and an artistic practice that passes on the traditions and life-ways of the people.

For instance, Carrie Ortiz, also a White Earth Anishinaabeg, was honored for her commitment to revitalizing and teaching traditional woodlands pottery.  Practicing her art, she says, strengthens her community by providing avenues that are not normally open for others to practice, experience or create art.

Another recipient, Elaine Timentwa-Emerson, has for 20 years taught plateau-style basketry classes and the Okanagon language to tribal members on the Colville Reservation in Washington state.  "I have always believed that in order to have self esteem, my people must relearn the arts, language and culture of their ancestors.  The reason I committed myself to teach basketry was to prove that as a people we are still here, and basket making is not a dead art - a victim of forced assimilation."

Timentwa-Emerson reconnects her students with their ancestral ties by taking them to ancestral gathering sites and following ceremonial practices associated with collecting the materials.

Pura Fe Crescioni, singer, songwriter, poet, dancer, and founder of the women's drum group, Ulali, is recognized nationally for bringing contemporary Native music into the forefront of "mainstream" music.  But Crescioni's heart and soul remain committed to the Tuscarora youth of North Carolina.  The chief and clan mothers from her community say "Her music, and her work as a seamstress, beadworker and storyteller have not only brought healing to the hearts and minds of our community, but have continually renewed our souls."

Nathan Jackson, a Tlingit, carves large totem poles, masks, and bent wood boxes from red cedar.  An acclaimed artist, Jackson has taught young, Native carvers for more than 30 years and is an instructor in the Native arts studies program at the Totem Heritage Center in Ketchikan, Alaska.  "My goal with people is to teach an understanding of the traditional design and forms used in Northwest Coast Indian art and/or to help them develop an eye for what is good art even if they may not be particularly talented as artists," he said.  His son has worked with him since the age of 14 and at 23 is a practicing artist.

For 25 years, Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, Seminole/Muskogee/Dine, has used photography as her creative and political voice.  "I use photography in a way that expresses the continuance of aboriginal life, as a way to influence Native thought.  Not just the positive imagery to encourage price, but complex imagery to address the intricate structures of community."  Many of her years as a photographer were spent in the San Francisco Bay area documenting urban Indian life-ways and activism.

Recently, Hulleah spent a year traveling across Indian country photographing Indian women for the Bread and Roses Cultural Project, whose Native American and Hawaiian Women of Hope posters feature women making a difference within their communities.  The posters reflect their cultures, social values, beliefs and connections to their tribal homelands.  Hulleah's Women of Hope series is displayed in schools, libraries and public spaces across the nation.

Juanita Espinosa, of the Native Arts Circle in Minneapolis, Minn., and a member of the Community Spirit Award selection committee says, "We finally have a way to acknowledge our community artists who are operating with a set of Native values that allows them to reach out to their communities artistically to ensure cultural continuance.  Too often artists' awards recognize artists for their individuality, which forces them to self-promote."

First Peoples Fund Community Spirit Award will honor five Indian artists annually who are dedicated to social change in their communities.

Other members of the Community Spirit Award selection committee include Janeen Antone, American Indian Contemporary Arts Gallery, San Francisco, Calif.; Cheryl Eldemar, Central Council Tlingit and Haida of Alaska, Juneau, Alaska; Tia Oros, Seventh Generation Fund, Arcata, Calif.; and Bird Runningwater, Fund of the Four Directions, New York, NY.