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I
heard Sharon on the phone the other day with a client telling them about
her past and her Indian heritage. I thought, why don't we say that on
our web site? So here is what she said.....
"My
Great Grandfather was a full blood Cherokee. You can find him on the
Dawes Rolls. He married my Grandmother who had Scottish ancestry. They
were moved onto the reservation in Oklahoma"........
Although Sharon
is of Cherokee heritage and from Texas, she is at this time not enrolled
with the Cherokee Nation. Therefore, she cannot state that the art she
produces is Native American made. Her great grandfather appears on the
Dawes Rolls, but in order for her to be enrolled - she must find the
missing birth certificate of her grandmother. Sharon cannot find out
whether she was born on the reservation in Oklahoma or in Texas. Further
to this, the funeral home where her grandmother was buried caught on
fire and those records were destroyed sometime in the 50's or 60's.
The search goes on..
For
many folk, this does not prove to be a problem as you cannot take
away someone's heritage or culture just because they do not possess
a piece of paper that states that they are Native American or not.
Although
Sharon is American - born in Texas, she has lived in many States throughout
the US, such as Arizona, Wyoming and Alaska. I am not a stranger to
the US either, Although British - I lived a lot my life in Seattle.
We now make our home in Scotland (by the way, it is a lot like parts
of Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Alberta Canada).We live
with our two dog, three cats, and our North American Buffalo on a
small holding.
When we started
Native Arts Trading some 17 years plus ago, we were interested in
art pieces that were hand made, that told a story and represented
all good aspects about traditional and contemporary Native American
Indian art. We made a conscious decision not to get involved with
the so called tourist/novelty items, but remain very faithful to Native
American Indian artisans.
We have - and
continue to work with some very talented enrolled Native American
artisans from Jerry Lefthand (Navajo), Dan Bert Yazzie (Navajo / Hopi),
Dow Haddaway (Shawnee), Marvin Yazzie (Navajo), Cheyenne / Arapaho,
Sioux, Apache, Woodlands artists, etc., to name but a few. You will
see some of their work showcased on our web site with their tribal
affiliation noted.
Over the years,
some of these artisans have come and gone, but we still continue to
work closely with many other Native Americans that make items for
us such as bows, other weaponry, pipes, flutes, jewelry, etc.We
did decide sometime ago that we no longer wanted to carry a huge amount
of art from Native American artisans that we really did not know or
did not have a personal relationship with. We continue to work with
artisans on a custom basis and are continually looking for other talented
Native American artists that produce original historically accurate
art pieces to showcase their work on our web site.
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