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Sandra Hale Schulman
Special to ICT

The latest: Textile art tales, artists honored and brother and sister make waves

ART: Blanket towers weave stories

The gorgeous, layered textile-based work of Marie Watt, Seneca, is featured at Print Center New York through May 18th in Storywork: The Prints of Marie Watt, from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation, the artist’s first traveling retrospective and the first to reflect printmaking in her ambitious interdisciplinary work.

Watt’s printmaking is both a process and a philosophy. The show features over 60 works and presents Watt’s etchings, lithographs and woodcuts alongside a selection of her monumentally scaled sculptures and textile works.

Her work draws from oral narratives, community sewing circles and everyday materials that carry intimate meanings and memories. Watt’s celebrated Blanket Stories sculptures are columns made of folded, stacked blankets drawn from a call to the public and pinned with tags documenting the blankets’ stories.

ART: Folk, traditional artists honored 

Several indigenous artists have been awarded this year’s NEA National Heritage Fellows, the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. Each fellowship includes a $25,000 award and the recipients will be honored in Washington, D.C., in fall 2024.

“I am honored to announce the ten gifted recipients that have been named 2024 NEA National Heritage Fellows,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “Through their dedication to and generous stewardship of their traditions and cultures, these artists and culture bearers carry forward their knowledge and passion to future generations. They offer us the opportunity to see things from different perspectives, help us make sense of the world, and celebrate our rich collective heritage comprised of our diverse lived experiences.”

Credit: Rosie Flores, a rockabilly and country musician from Austin, Texas, has been songwriting, singing and playing guitar for since the 1980s. (Photo courtesy of NEA National Heritage Fellows)

The 2024 NEA National Heritage Fellows include Rosie Flores, a rockabilly and country musician from Austin, Texas. Flores has been songwriting, singing, and playing guitar for since the 1980s, preserving and extending the musical legacies of the Texan musicians that came before her.

Her triple threat singing, songwriting and guitar playing created the foundation for the alt country movement. In the 1970s, she was among the most celebrated performers on the “cowpunk” circuit. The release of her 1987 debut solo album Rosie Flores was a hit when Flores became the first Latina to crack Billboard’s country music chart.

Flores has remained a fireball of a live performer for more than five decades,, Randy Lewis of the LA Times said she is “a goosebump-inducing electric guitarist and songwriter as well as champion of the trailblazers who preceded her.”

She has a spotlight position in the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum’s exhibition “Western Edge: The Roots & Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock” in Nashville now on display.

“This is such an honor!” Flores posted on Facebook. “As you can imagine, after all these years…This NEA Heritage Award is the best thing that ever happened to me in my career! This is such an honor! You feel insignificant when you’re struggling at times, even though it’s been a long happy productive road. It’s just the older you get, the less you feel needed when the gigs slow down, it’s scary. But I so love playing, writing, and recording, it’s my “happy place”! When I’m in the studio or playing on stage, on land or in the middle of the ocean on the Outlaw Cruise, I’m happy to be making music, with stellar musicians. Or in the studio helping to produce other talented artists that I believe in. It’s a lot of work to self- manage my career but I make do and do it! I have so much gratitude for the amazing help and love that has come to me by a few very close friends and musicians, and I owe a lot to them for believing in me.

“I can’t forget the record labels who have had an ear for my songs through the years and took the chance on me too, it’s been a fun ride. I’ve been pushing through all my doubts and been in the studio working over the past year and now I’m thrilled to have 2 records ready to be released. So this incredible award by the National Endowment of the Arts is just what the doctor ordered, because being on stage singing and playing my guitar with awesome musicians is every part of keeping me in my happy place, so now I can keep going and going and going. I’m the ever ready bunny now!”

The other recipients are:

AWARDS: Battiest siblings in the news

Credit: Singer-songwriter Spencer Battiest, Seminole Choctaw, will be awarded a Diversity Honor by the Harvey Milk Foundation on March 9 at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida. (Photo courtesy of Spencer Battiest)

Spencer Battiest, Seminole Choctaw, will be awarded a Diversity Honor by the Harvey Milk Foundation on March 9 at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida. With a soulful silky voice and sophisticated style that mixes designer wear with Seminole patchwork, Battiest is a singer-songwriter who has been nominated and won awards at the Native American Music Awards, the American Indian Film Festival and the Native Cinema Showcase for his video “The Storm,” which he produced with his brother Doc Native. He has acted in Distant Thunder (a Blackfeet musical), The Day We Were Born, and Champ and Legacy of Exiled NDNZ.

Battiest told ICT: “I am honored and humbled to be recognized by the Harvey Milk Foundation at this year’s Diversity Honors. As a queer, Indigenous entertainer, we are often overlooked for our work and contributions. To be acknowledged by my peers and the broader LGBTQ+ community is incredibly meaningful.

“This award not only celebrates my personal journey but also reflects the strength and resilience of an inclusive community that thrives on diversity and love. It stands as a testament to the progress we’ve made and the work that still lies ahead. I am inspired to continue living authentically, and I am grateful for Diversity Honors shedding light on Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQ+ people.”

During the recent Seminole Tribal Fair, Battiest sang at a Veteran Honoring Ceremony in the main arena to a crowd of thousands, and honored Pat Vegas of Redbone with a stirring speech and the Mary Moore Lifetime Achievement Award. Follow him on Instagram @spencerbattiest

Credit: Petra Battiest who at just 19 is making waves in the film industry as a makeup artist – working on Tantoo Cardinal and Gary Farmer, a national commercial for Toyota, a music video for Grammy nominated band “Spiritbox” and actress JaNae Collins (“Killers of the Flower Moon”). (Sandra Hale Schulman, special to ICT)

Spencer has also been helping his younger sister Petra, who at just 19 is making waves in the film industry as a makeup artist – working on Tantoo Cardinal and Gary Farmer, a national commercial for Toyota, a music video for Grammy nominated band “Spiritbox,” actress JaNae Collins (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), and writer/director Tazbah Chavez (“Reservation Dogs” and “Rutherford Falls”). She also did the makeup for designer Oscar de la Renta’s fall 2024 bridal show and for Lauren Good Day’s fashion show at the Santa Fe Indian Market.

Spencer has been helping Petra in her move to Los Angeles after she enrolled in a production makeup school to pursue higher education in film and TV makeup.

“I knew I wanted to further my career as a professional makeup artist,” Battiest said to the Seminole Tribune. “After graduating high school at 16, my brother, Spencer, encouraged me to enroll in a local beauty school in Florida. That really brought me out of my shell and helped me realize this is what I want to do forever. It’s like every turn, every store, every stop is a sign of encouragement. Representation for us in Hollywood hasn’t always been this way. I see a shift towards a more inclusive future in this industry that I am glad I’ll get to be a part of.” Follow her on Instagram @PaintedbyPetra

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Sandra Hale Schulman, of Cherokee Nation descent, has been writing about Native issues since 1994 and writes a biweekly Indigenous A&E column for ICT. The recipient of a Woody Guthrie Fellowship, she...