The National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship, which is the highest honor in folk and traditional arts in the United States, was awarded to 10 artists, including three Indigenous artists, on Sept. 17. In recognition of each artist’s excellence, lifetime achievements, and contributions to the nation’s traditional arts heritage, they received $25,000. The head of the NEA, Maria Jackson, presented the awards at the Library of Congress. Videos of the awards ceremony and the individual artists are available at the NEA website. The three Indigenous artists are described below.
Chief Trimble Gilbert, Neets’ajj Gwich’in
“Trimble Gilbert is traditional chief and reverend of the Neets’ąįį Gwich’in people from Vashrąįį K’oo, Alaska,” wrote Evon Peter, Neets’ąįį Gwich’in, Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Alaska Native Health Research in the NEA announcement. “The Gwich’in are among the furthest north of the American Indian people in North America, living in remote isolated villages. They live a subsistence lifestyle with traditions that date back more than 10,000 years.”
Speaking of Gilbert’s master Gwich’in fiddling skills and knowledge of traditional culture, Peter said, “Few people possess the depth of cultural, spiritual, and intellectual knowledge and share it so extensively and with such humility as does Chief Gilbert. His life is a walking testament to the cultural values, practices, traditions, and knowledge of the Gwich’in people.”
Peter explained that beginning with contact in 1840, French and Scot Canadian fur traders brought the fiddle, jig and square dances to the Gwich’in, who “took fondly to the new music and quickly adapted it to have Indigenous names and style, defining a unique genre of folk fiddle sound, Gwich’in fiddle music.”
Gilbert was born in 1935 and lived a nomadic life as a child. His family followed the migration of animals they depended on for their survival.
The Gwich’in would gather during the holidays at celebrations which extended an entire week into the New Year. This is where Gilbert’s love for the fiddle was born and where he was “captivated by the sounds of the fiddle and the dances.”
Gilbert ordered a fiddle from Sears Roebuck catalog, and taught himself how to play. “By the 1970s, he was able to listen to Gwich’in fiddle music coming over the airwaves from Canada on a transistor radio,” Peter said. “This helped him to further refine his repertoire of songs and unique style.”
Gilbert received an honorary doctorate from the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2016 in recognition of his contributions, which include teaching others through programs such as “Dancing with the Spirit,” which brings fiddle music into schools.
At the awards ceremony, Gilbert said, “I keep it in my heart to work with the people and speak with the people all the time.”
Susan Hudson, Diné
Retired U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Northern Cheyenne, called Hudson a multidimensional artist and skilled quilter, “who has tapped into her personal struggles and the struggles of her people through her art.”
According to Campbell, Hudson’s mother and grandmothers were forced to learn sewing in boarding schools where there was little tolerance for mistakes. Hudson’s quilting helped support her family when she began making Star Quilts for Native pow wows and giveaways at Campbell’s request. He also encouraged her to break away from star quilts and develop her own artistic voice.
This developed into contemporary storytelling through ledger art quilts. “Ledger art is a type of narrative drawing or painting on animal hides, primarily practiced by Plains Indians in the 1860s, Campbell said. “Hudson uses a crossover style inspired by ledger art, recounting history through her quilts. She has taken her quilting to a whole new level, serving as an activist storyteller. Her pictorial quilts honor her ancestors and illustrate the proud history of the Navajo people.”
Campbell went on to say that Hudson’s powerful quilting chronicles. “the sacrifices and strengths of her family and remembers their hardships,” including Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, the Long Walk of the Navajo, and the trauma of boarding schools.
Hudson gives back to her community through quilting in other ways as well. She is a co-founder of the Navajo Quilt Project, which donates fabric to elders all across the Navajo Nation. According to Nighthorse, The Navajo Quilt Project makes quilts for giveaways and traditional ceremonies, and empowers others to start their own businesses.
Hudson’s quilts have been acquired for collection by the International Quilt Museum, Heard Museum, Autry Western Museum, Riverside Museum, and National Museum of the American Indian. Other acquisitions include the Gochman Collection, the John and Susan Horseman Foundation, and many private collectors. In competition, her quilts have garnered dozens of awards.
Zuni Olla Maidens, Zuni Pueblo
The Zuni Olla Maidens, are a dance troupe from Zuni Pueblo in western New Mexico. The Zuni Olla Maidens since their start more than 70 years ago, have always consisted of related women. They are venerated and “equally well-known for singing, drumming and their trademark dance balancing pottery on their heads, as well as being an all-female troupe” according to Thomas Grant Richardson, PhD. Director, Center for Washington Cultural Traditions.
“The significance of the family connection gives the Zuni Olla Maidens reliance and longevity,” Richardson said in the NEA announcement. “The individual members are stewards, knowing they owe much to the women that came before, as well as being responsible for those who will come after they are gone.”
Daisy Nampeyo, a Hopi woman who married into Zuni, created the pottery style of dancing. It was designed as a social dance, performed by women, to showcase both Zuni pottery as well as the clothing and jewelry made in the Pueblo. According to Richardson, the style was adopted by Crystal Sheka in the 1950s, Sheka’s daughter, Cornelia Bowannie led the group until 2015 when her daughters, Juanita Edaakie and Loretta Beyuka, became leaders. When they retire, they’ll pass on the leadership to one of their nieces.
Richardson said being a family group and exclusively female is a way of paying homage to ancestral women who fetched water in big jars called ollas (the Spanish word for pot).
The Zuni Olla Maidens have been recognized with invited performances at the National Museum of the American Indian, (Washington, DC), Richmond Folk Festival (Richmond, Virginia), and Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial (Gallup, New Mexico) among others. A recreation of the Olla Maidens regalia, made by Edaakie, is part of the Museum of Indian Arts and Cultures’ permanent exhibit in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
They have also received the Allan Houser Award from the Santa Fe Indian Market for “preserving and reshaping the face of native arts,”
The National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowships has awarded fellowships annually since 1982.
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