“We Are Still Here” | Kelly Church Is Weaving Tradition, Advocacy, and Hope into Black Ash Basketry

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By Native StoryLab

February 17, 2026

Inside the Detroit Institute of Arts’ (DIA) Contemporary Anishinaabe Art: A Continuation exhibition, visitors move through a gallery alive with material, memory, and motion—woven baskets, quillwork, jewelry, photographs, and mixed-media works speaking to one another across time and practice. Within this collective space, Kelly Church’s black ash basketry rises with quiet authority, grounding the room in generations of Anishinaabe knowledge and responsibility.

Church, an enrolled member of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians in Michigan, is a renowned black ash basket weaver whose work bridges ancestral teachings and contemporary environmental advocacy. Her work is included in the DIA’s Contemporary Anishinaabe Art: A Continuation exhibition, the museum's first exhibition of contemporary Native American art in more than 30 years. Church also served in an advisory role for the exhibition, which showcases the resilience and brilliance of Anishinaabe artists. The exhibition runs through April 5, 2026, and is included with museum admission, which is free for individuals with a tribal ID.

A Heritage Woven by Hand and Heart

Church’s introduction to basket weaving began with familial love and keen observation. “My grandfather had Alzheimer's, and he used baskets as his biggest way of saying thank you,” she recalls. Inspired to learn, Church’s father took her into the woods to find the perfect black ash tree, an experience that ignited a lifelong calling. “That was my journey into it,” she says, “and it became more than a tradition; it became my life’s work.” 

Passing Down the Art — and Responsibility 

Teaching the next generation proved challenging, showing Church that basket weaving is an acquired, practiced skill. Apprenticing under her father and cousin, she learned not only the technical aspects but also the cultural significance of the black ash basket. 

The arrival of the emerald ash borer — a beetle devastating ash trees across North America — turned Church’s art into advocacy. Educating other weavers and the public, she realized, “It was important to tell people about the emerald ash borer…that it was going to affect all of us, not just those in Michigan.” 

Art as Cultural Memory and Environmental Advocacy 

For Church, weaving is both an act of remembrance and a future-oriented practice. “When I’m weaving, I’m thinking of my great-grandmother, of people who came before me, who passed on this tradition orally,” she explains. The baskets are vessels, carrying cultural knowledge, patience, community values, and history that survived forced assimilation and the trauma of boarding schools. 

Harvesting black ash responsibly — not over-harvesting, respecting land and others, and supporting ecological resilience — is at the heart of the Church’s teaching. She encourages both Native and non-native communities to participate in replanting efforts: “We’ve lost over 800 million trees in Michigan alone…we need to replenish those trees, and we need to do it with Indigenous trees.”

Continuity and Celebration at the DIA 

Her contribution to the DIA exhibition is a towering black ash basket woven with copper, photographs, and QR codes sharing boarding school history, which stands as art, narrative, and educational resource.

“These stories aren’t just history,” Church says. “We are still here.”  

Through contemporary works, the exhibition demonstrates living tradition and ongoing presence, countering narratives that “Native” only means past. “You get to see in photographs, with the quill work, with woven baskets, with jewelry — there’s so much to share who we are... I wanted to bring in a lot of people (artists) that had not been seen outside their reservations or powwows," Church says.”

Baskets with a Message 

Many of Church’s baskets serve as storytelling devices and cautionary reminders about the emerald ash borer. “Every basket I make has a little message… I started making egg-shaped baskets, I call fiber jays, with the bug inside,” she shares. Church describes fiber jays as a play on Fabergé eggs, creating them from fibers of the forest.

These works, some containing flash drives in the Anishinaabe language with harvesting instructions, safeguard knowledge for future generations. 

Her most important question for visitors? “How can I help you save the ash trees?”  

Church urges the collection and banking of ash seeds — “They’re going to be more important than gold in the future,” she says, advocating not just for cultural heritage, but also environmental survival. 

A Living Legacy 

To all who enter the exhibition, Church wants them to know: “We are still here, and we are still strong in who we are.” Whether through teaching, advocating for the land, or weaving hope into every basket, Kelly Church’s legacy is one of resilience, continuity, and invitation: to listen, to learn, and to act for the sake of future generations. 

Learn more about the ongoing Contemporary Anishinaabe Art: A Continuation exhibition at the DIA here.