ladies, if you can find a place where you are the ideal of beauty, go there. if for no other reason than to be appreciated for who you are. no changing it, may as well enjoy your skin.
so i search the powwow for true artisans. there are lots of vendors, but i search out the native folk who are creating art. everywhere we go we try to acquire some of this art.
our home is full of the pictures of (or used to be, only one small buffalo warrior hanging in the hall here at the apt) tillier wesley. native artist of the highest rate. the first time i acquired one of his paintings, it was actually a signed numbered print, because these native artists are so damned good, their works are 'spensive, man!
anywhoo, i had just won a scholarship for an essay i wrote, and there it was, a warrior in a painting called "as time passes." i think the verbiage for that art work got lost in this move, but the print, is just gorgeous. my beloved liked it so much, he bought at least four or five more paintings from tillier. tillier has been ill and doing the sweetest paintings of little dolls. which i've yet to acquire, but shall. hopefully some day soon.
back to new york. the artisan who drew me was domingo talldog monroe. i kept returning to his booth to look at a huge feather pendant, which elegantly curved, as if it were blowing in the wind. i like a piece with movement in it (though hugging my daughter that night, i drove the feather into her chest, and it hurt!).
what i wanted to say about this is, if you happen upon a powwow, don't just buy stuff from cases. ask the artists if they have made any of the pieces. while i was there scouring the vendors booths i saw the work of a friend, frank gilbert. a native artist i knew from california. frank makes these turtle shell pendants which open. my sister actually purchased several of them for her assorted children. but i knew the artist because i went to powwows and spent hours talking with him and his wife.
also, if you learn the artists' sign, if you buy from actual native artists, you can see their symbols and recognize them when their work is sold second hand.
my beloved and i were at a powwow in greenville, texas, and saw a guy with some silver medallions in his hair. we knew the artisan without seeing the symbol, because my husband purchased some of those medallions at a powwow in scottsdale, arizona once. makes for interesting convesation if you understand what you've got from where.
it is a very small world indeed.
we were crammed in a tepee listening to native storyteller/flute player tchin. my daughter crawled into her daddy's lap and grabbed for her water bottle to have a drink as she reclined on his chest. it was such a flash back to when she was a baby. i remember when he could hold her whole body on his forearm. now, she is nearing the point where she will probably not climb into her daddy's lap any more. those are the moments i wish i had a camera and took pictures. but i'm glad i was there and able to witness it.
one word of advice before i away. this is for all you nonnatives who may read me, when at powwows resist the urge to dance in open adult dances. i'm not talking about intertribals (the dancers in regalia dance with unclad folk), but i'm talking about when they say come out and show us how you dance like we do.
do not ever dance in these. even if they have a dream catcher as prize. resist the urge. save your dignity, go to a booth and buy a dream catcher. it constantly amazes me how stereotypically people dance in these things.
which reminds me of another sordid tale. i was seeing a doctor once when i was suffering horribly from carpal tunnel. he asked,
how do you exercise?i said,
i dance every weekend.
really, where, he asked?
this doctor liked me because i was studying english literature and actually knew who john donne was.
at powwows,i said.
he proceeded to demonstrate native dance by whooping and circling with legs bent and was the most ridiculous sight i've ever seen.
resist the urge, if you be a friend of mine, to dance in a "competition." especially if you happen to be with me. i will leave you there.
peace.
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