Plains Anthropology Conference, 2014

Its almost time for the annual Plains Conference, this year to be held in Fayetteville, AR at the end of October. Will likely drive down, stopping at Cahokia along the way. Need to get my presentation abstract submitted...will discuss Plains Apache tipi designs and need to finish up my paper for submission to the journal. John Ewers discussed a few of the painted lodges in his publication on Kiowa tipi designs:

but there is a bit more to say on the topic from Mooney's papers such as Itselpa's (Chalepah) tipi drawing, as well as some updates on contemporary tipis, including several owned by the Chalepah family today.

   (drawing of Itselpa tipi, James Mooney collection, National Anthropological Archives)

(possible drawing of Itselpah tipi in Blackbear's Calendar (1911), National Museum of American History...forthcoming discussion in an article for Great Plains Quarterly)
                                        

Horace Poolaw

My friend Fred McColly kindly gave me the new Horace Poolaw photo book for my birthday. This has been a long time in the making and should give Horace the attention he has deserved. Its a nice book to compliment many of my other Poolaw resources!!

For a Love of His People: The Photography of Horace Poolaw (The Henry Roe Cloud Series on American Indians and Modernity). Smithsonian Institution Press (2014)

Native Art class begins!

The new semester has begun and lots of students are enrolled in my class....we have been looking at examples of traditional arts from the major culture areas and later we will discuss some modern art forms. Students will create blogs & post on art they have found interesting & even provocative, sharing their thoughts with classmates. A few are learning about beadwork (starting with rosettes just to get our fingers limber) and may explore additional projects.

I'm looking forward to working on the other rosettes that will be part of Kaya's blanket strip, with the larger whale medallion in the middle. Some of my bead tools & supplies are parked in my campus office so perhaps I can grab a few minutes now and then to lay down a few!! I can work on these as students make their own...what could be more fun that beading, listening to music and drinking coffee in the afternoon in my new sunny office? Just wish I had comfy chairs...