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- By Tamara Ikenberg
Smiling southwest-style sculptures, dances with water, and a Hopi-filled festival are waiting to be seen, heard and celebrated this weekend and next week in Indian Country.
Dive into Native News Online’s event guide to get a handle on the cool cultural happenings headed your way.
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Bear Family Eagle Dancers by Choctaw sculptor Randy Chitto, owner of The Red Clay Studio in Santa Fe. Chitto will be selling and showing new work via Zoom at his After-Indian Market Virtual Show on Saturday, Aug. 28, at 11 a.m. MST. (Red Clay Studio/Randy Chitto)The Red Clay Studio After-Indian Market Virtual Show
WHEN: Saturday, Aug. 28, 11 a.m. MST
WHERE: Zoom
Don’t be sad if you didn’t have the chance to snap up one of Choctaw artist Randy Chitto’s happiness-inducing bear and turtle sculptures at last week’s Santa Fe Indian Market.
His irresistibly cute clay and bronze creature creations — known as koshares — almost sold out completely at Indian Market.
But the Santa Fe-based sculptor and owner of Red Clay Gallery has a freshly molded menagerie of pieces, which he’s going to show and sell online during a special virtual event this weekend.
“Many of our friends and collectors decided to forgo the Santa Fe Indian Market because of the ongoing health risk, so we decided to bring a piece of the show to everyone on our mailing list,” Chitto wrote in an email. “We had a great show and ended with only one set of sculptures left. The pieces we will be sharing for this special virtual show will be work we were not quite able to finish for Indian Market.”
To check out Chitto’s infectiously cheerful creations, visit randychitto.com.
10th Annual Hopi Arts and Cultural Festival
WHEN: Saturday, Aug. 28 and Sunday, Aug. 29, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
WHERE: Continental Country Club Driving Range, N. Country Club Dr. and E. Old Walnut Canyon Rd, Flagstaff, Az. For the full schedule, visit hopifestival.com
Since 2010, the Annual Hopi Arts and Cultural Festival has connected the city of Flagstaff with the traditions of the Tribe.
Initially developed to help artists sell their work following the recession and familiarize Flagstaff with the talents and culture of the Hopi, the festival has grown into a major event.
Festival video:
This year, nearly 60 artists offering Kachina dolls, pottery, baskets, textiles, paintings and more, will be at the festival. Artists include painter Abel Nash, beader Auri Roy, potter Darlene James, and basketmaker Liz Gashwazra.
In addition, market-goers can enjoy performances from cultural entertainers including the Antelope Track Dance Group and singer, drummer and kachina doll carver Ryon Polequaptewa.
Woodland Sky Native American Dance Company will perform at the Beethoven and Banjos: Watershed Moment concert on Sunday, Aug. 29, at the Rosza Center for the Performing Arts in Houghton, Michigan. (Chad Reed)
Beethoven and Banjos-Watershed Moment Concert Featuring Woodland Sky Native American Dance Company
WHEN: Sunday, Aug. 29, 12 p.m. PDT
WHERE: Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts, 1400 Townsend Dr. Houghton, Michigan. Tickets are $5. Purchase here; For more information, visit beethovenandbanjos.org
The Woodland Sky Native American Dance Company will tell water stories through symbolic motion during a concert celebrating the watersheds of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The dance company, based in Crystal Falls, Michigan, near the Menominee River watershed, will move to the music of the world-famous Aeolus Quartet during the Beethoven and Banjos: Watershed Moment concert, presented by the Northwoods Music Collaborative.
“Water and the importance of water is such a central issue and the songs that were written for this concert by members of the Aeolus Quartet were made with the importance of water in mind,” Woodland Sky founder Michelle Reed (Ojibwe) told Native News Online. “Woodland Sky will tie in stories of water to the contemporary songs, and we’ll also have a traditional drum group, Crazy Boy Singers from Hannahville Indian Community.”
The concert will also feature performers and musicians from theLake Superior, Lake Michigan, Mississippi River, Lake Champlain, and Atlantic Ocean watersheds
The Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee will present the 1st Annual Green Corn Native American Festival & Powwow at the Tri-State Exhibition Center in McDonald, TN, from Friday, Aug. 27 through Sunday, Aug. 29 . (Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee Facebook)1st Annual Green Corn Native American Festival and Powwow
WHEN: Friday, Aug. 27 - Sunday, Aug. 29
WHERE: Tri-State Exhibition Center, 200 Natures Trail SW, McDonald, Tennessee; Powwows.com event page
There’s a brand new southern-style powwow on the circuit.
Storytelling, intertribal dancing, arts and crafts, Indian tacos, fry bread, and a nature walk with a guide explaining the use of Native plants as medicine and food, are all part of the 1st Annual Green Corn Native American Festival and Powwow
Presented by The Georgia Tribe of Eastern Cherokee, the Powwow will also feature auctions, barrel racing, a kids’ day on Friday, Aug. 27, flute performances by Jack Crazy Flute Holland, host drum group Silver Ridge Singers, and booths dedicated to drawing attention to issues affecting Indian Country, including Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW.)
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