4th annual Native Art Marketplace held in Mt. Horeb
This past weekend the collaboration between the Little Eagle Art Foundation and the Driftless Historium & Mount Horeb Area Historical Society continued with the latter hosting the 4th Annual Native Art Marketplace.
The public had the opportunity to view, learn about, and purchase Native American art in a variety of mediums from artists; Painter Christopher Sweet (Hoocąk {Ho-chunk}/Ojibwe), Jewelry artists, Leah Winneshiek (Hoocąk), Josiah Thunder (Hoocąk, Lac Courte Oreilles and Red Cliff Ojibwe), Brian Szabo (Sicangu Lakota), and Harmony Hill (Hoocąk/ Oneida, Stockbridge Munsee, and Lakota), Basket weaver Kimberly Crowley (Hoocąk) and raised beadwork artist Karen Ann Hoffman (Oneida). On Saturday, visitors experienced drumming, singing, dancing, and an explanation on Native American regalia. They learned about Hoocąk history and culture from Elliott Funmaker Sr., manager of the Wisconsin Dells Singers & Dancers Troupe.
The in-person celebration of local Native American arts and Mt. Horeb history, has a unique history in and of itself. “It’s a reflection of the, you know, just the collaborative spirit. That we have, that LEAF has with nonprofits that kind of share our mission,” said Hoocąk tribal member and Little Eagle Arts Foundation (LEAF) Founder and Director, Melanie Tallmadge-Sainz.
Tallmadge-Sainz said when the Historium was creating their permanent exhibit next to the gift shop, rather than just featuring a land acknowledgement statement, the Historium wanted to dedicate a good portion of that opening part of the museum exhibit to the Hoocąk.
Prior to the grand opening in 2018, Driftless Historium Executive Director, Destinee Udelhoven invited Tallmadge-Sainz and Hoocąk Elder/LEAF board member Janice Rice, to review information and items about and from the Hoocąk that lived in the Mt, Horeb area. “When Janice and I saw the few things that they have in their own collection, we both knew that LEAF needed to loan something to them. So, we have three objects from the LEAF art collection on long term loan. And so that relationship started. Destinee asked, ‘do you want to have some artists set up for the grand opening?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, let's do that’, kind of display in our collaborative spirit. It just kind of rolled into, let's do something like this every year because it was so successful. Our intention is to get it somewhat bigger. We don't want to have a huge thing, because we want all the artists to be successful. We want to have a nice invitational show that is reflective of many different art forms of the area and the artists that we serve. So that's kind of the genesis,” Tallmadge-Sainz said.
This year would have been the 5th year of the marketplace, but wasn’t due to the decision to hold off in 2020 because of the pandemic. In 2021, the marketplace resumed virtually and partially in person at Maa Wákąčąk (Holy land) aka the old Badger Ammunition grounds following health guidelines.
“This event is so successful I think, because this community (Mt. Horeb) doesn't have a lot of exposure to native culture. They're able to meet the LEAF artists Melanie has been able to gather that are always so people friendly. The artists are willing to talk about their process and what the art means to them culturally and historically. So, it's just such a nice event to give them a venue to sell things,” said Udelhoven.
Udelhoven noted that growing the annual marketplace is a possibility saying, “Obviously our physical space is limited. We're kind of maxed out right as it is now, but in a comfortable way. We've thought about taking the street that we have closed off in a prior year’s marketplace for the singers and dancers, and putting a larger tent up and getting more artists.”
Tallmadge-Sainz stressed that LEAF is all about supporting Native American artists and their creative expression. “If you read our mission statement, we're really there to support and help the Native artists and their socioeconomic opportunities. Producing a market like this is exactly that type of opportunity. And then also holding business workshops or a series of art workshops where you employ the artists who also like to teach their art form. It's nonprofits that share in that kind of educational mission in their communities.” LEAF has previously collaborated with Aldo Leopold in Baraboo, and the Kilbourne Library and Friends of H.H. Bennett in Wisconsin Dells.
The artists:
Wisconsin Dells Singers & Dancers Troupe- Elliott Funmaker Sr., Mary Funmaker, Justice Green, William Kemp II, Lillian White Eagle, and Neva Kemp. Elliott is the manager and lead of this Hoocąk troupe. Funmaker’s jagi (father) Kenneth Funmaker, started the Wisconsin Dells Singers back in 1976. Elliott has continued the group as lead singer since 1999, and has incorporated this troupe with the Wisconsin Dells Singers.
With over 50 years of experience in performing, Elliott has performed across the nation, educating the public, dispelling myths about Native Americans, and giving a glimpse into Native American culture.
For more information on the Wisconsin Dells Singers & Dancers, contact Elliott at 608-455-4182 or via email at greencorn52.ef@gmail.com
Chris Sweet (Hoocąk/ White Earth Ojibwe), painter-
Hoocąk painter Chris Sweet, works mostly in acrylics. Sweet enjoys painting on different fabrics and materials including cloth bags, or as he puts it, “anything I can, you know, really get my hands on because paint is pretty versatile”.
Sweet studied art for a little bit out in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and eventually made his way back to Wisconsin. “I didn't really do much until four years ago, and then had my first show at the Native Presence Gallery in Wisconsin Dells. Things just kind of blew up from there. So, here I am today. This is kind of my main thing and I'm doing what I love,” said Sweet.
Sweet’s wife Chrissy said she was happy to be able to support him. “I really think he has a beautiful gift that he got from the Creator. I'm happy that he's able to share it with people.” Sweet and his wife own Blue Bear Studio in Baraboo, Wisconsin on the square. Visit Blue Bear Studio
Karen Ann Hoffman (Oneida), raised beadwork-
Hoffman, is an award-winning master Haudenosaunee raised beadwork artist and a 2020 National Heritage Fellow. She creates Iroquois raised beadwork, a dimensional style of beadwork, that is a cultural hallmark of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy which include the Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. It should be noted that the Iroquois Confederacy originally consisted of five separate nations- the Mohawks, who call themselves Kanienkehaka, or "people of the flint country,” the Onondaga, “people of the hills,” the Cayuga, “where they land the boats,” the Oneida, “people of the standing stone,” and the Seneca, “the people of the big hill”.
Iroquois raised beadwork is characterized by lines of beads that arch above the textile surface for a three-dimensional effect, typically sewn onto velvet.
“Our homeland is in the eastern Great Lakes around the Niagara Falls, but in about 1820 there was a forced removal of the Oneida from our homelands and a good portion of us ended up here in Wisconsin. The bead work designs go back thousands of years, actually, tens of thousands of years. The forms and designs that I use in my Iroquois raised beadwork I first saw etched into stone or scratched into shell pieces that are actually said to be ten-thousand years old. Those shapes and forms stay with us. The materials that we use to express them change over time, but the core of the culture does not,” Hoffman said. Visit Karen Ann Hoffman
Josiah Thunder (Hoocąk, Lac Courte Oreilles and Red Cliff Ojibwe) Woodland Thunder, woodland inspired jewelry and crafts -
Thunder started wood carving a little over 3 years ago. “I started making war clubs, spoons, bowls, and dance sticks. Then, the pandemic hit and gave me the opportunity to be home. I was fortunate to have a company that paid us CARES money to stay home and be with our kids. That gave me a chance to develop my artistic side with jewelry, silversmithing, shell work, and other various wood carving.“ His first showing at the marketplace, Thunder has been showing more in Ojibway and Sioux areas in Minnesota. “Melanie asked if I wanted to come down here to set up and participate. So, it's kind of nice to be down here and be amongst our Hoocąk homelands.” When asked if he had any mentors that inspire him, Thunder responded, “I have two main mentors with the club making. It's my good friend Gerald White from the Leech Lake reservation in Deer River, Minnesota. And the second one is Sarah Howes Barry from the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. She's my mentor when it comes to the jewelry, the marketing. She kind of paved the way for a lot of different indigenous artists. She gives me pointers and tips, things that I can do to sell in person, the energy to sell on social media, the marketing, all that kind of stuff.” Thunder shared he draws inspiration for his work from both sides of his tribal cultures. Visit Woodland Thunder
Earth jewelry by Leah Winneshiek (Hoocąk) -
Winneshiek said she started with sterling silver. “I wanted to use natural products as much as possible. I have been doing this for quite a while. I'm now really out with more products and really producing with the support of my family, it's awesome.” Winneshiek noted the love of her life Ali Rodriguez is so supportive of her and said, “He definitely gives me some feedback on what I do, and that's helpful.”
Winneshiek’s all original designed jewelry features gemstones and sterling silver. “It’s a sterling silver that you have to polish and I don't mind doing it. Actually, that's kind of a fun part of having sterling silver is the bringing it back to life. And when you polish it, it just glistens. It's really awesome. Winneshiek said that some of her beads were handed down from her mother. “A lot of these beads are my mother's. She passed in 2012, and I guess I was given these gifts because I am the one that is the most artsy and crafty person.” She pointed out that she always did well in art classes while in school and has an interest in expanding her art into ceramics and painting. Visit Earth Jewelry by Leah Winneshiek
Harmony Hill (Hoocąk, Oneida, Stockbridge Munsee) Harmony by Design -
Hill’s lineage includes Hoocak, Oneida, and Stockbridge Munsee. Hill said she’s always been interested in art since she was very young. “I started out just trying to make artwork for myself. And then other people really liked it, and I was really like drawn to making art for the people about the people.” Hill said when she was making art for herself, she wanted something that reflected her culture, but she couldn't find it in any store. “So, I made culturally relevant stuff for myself, and that's when a lot of people came out and were like, ‘that's what we want too’, and so I got into a lot of painting that way. And then it just expanded to jewelry and woodwork.”
Hill shared that her mentor was her father Ben Bearskin Jr. who was also a traditional crafts artist. “He was a big influence and mentor to me. He always encouraged me in everything I ever wanted to do.” This was Hill’s first time being involved with this marketplace and was anxious to participate. “I was honored to be invited to come up here. I'm always willing to go to new venues and meet new people. It's nice to be able to share the culture and educate people on Native culture and art that's authentic rather than the Hollywood stuff that they're kind of used to.” Visit Harmony by Design
Brian Szabo (Sicangu Lakota), Fine Jewelry and Knives -
Born and raised on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, Szabo started working in his father’s shop when he was in middle school. Szabo creates contemporary jewelry with traditional designs and uses bone, horn, silver, and other materials used by Native generations before him. “I started watching him and then started cutting with a jeweler saw, and monkeying with his different machines and stuff like that in the shop.” Szabo recalled his father would pay him $1 per Indian head nickel he would cut out for his father to work with, and that taught him the finer mechanics of working with a jewelers saw. Szabo worked on-and-off on jewelry through his 20’s. His work in jewelry really picked up when he married an art teacher who worked in different mediums including metal. He said he credits her support and teaching him new techniques working with metal that inspired him. His second year participating in the marketplace, Szabo as an artist, really enjoyed the dancer’s regalia and art work that went into the different styles. “I don't do beadwork, but I appreciate the work that goes into it and cut-glass beads. That's pretty unique. You go to different tribal art shows and every artist has something a little different. Visit Brian Szabo
Kimberly Crowley (Hoocąk), Black Ash basket weaver -
Crowley comes from generations of Black Ash basket Weavers notably, the Hall family. The Halls are well known for their quality craftmanship and their amazing skill of weaving miniature baskets. “My mother and my grandmother were basket makers. This was their livelihood. She stayed home making baskets. She told me if I wanted to learn, I would have to sit down and just actually watch. So, the best way to learn how to do something is by sitting and watching somebody. I would sit and I would watch her. Through the years, when I was sitting there watching her, I would pick up all her extra little pieces, and I would try to make my own little basket. She would give me pointers. She would actually kind of stop her work and help teach me. But yes, this was her livelihood. So, if we wanted to eat, she made baskets to feed us, and there was 11 of us kids. We grew up in Wittenberg, Wisconsin.
Crowley’s main mentors were her mother and father, but her mother stressed to her that it is important to watch other basket weavers to see how they make their baskets. Crowley recalled one of those weavers was Violet White Wing who lived down the road from them, from whom she would learn different tricks to making baskets. She also recalled when her father would come home from his outside job, he would whittle the thick wooden handles for her mother’s baskets. Contact Kimberly via email at KimbieC66@gmail.com
Melanie Tallmadge Sainz (Hoocąk)-
Tallmadge-Sainz is an award-winning bead and porcupine quill embroidery and mixed media installation artist. Melanie, a cultural arts educator, exhibiting artist, and curator, is also the founding Director of Little Eagle Arts Foundation. She also was a 2021 Artist in Residence at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis, Indiana. Always advocating for LEAF artists and Native American artists as a whole, Melanie leads friendship bracelet making for visitors during the Native Art Market Place. Visit Melanie Tallmadge-Sainz
