The Conference

This past week I attended the North American Indian Women's Association (NAIWA) conference in Niagara Falls, NY. It was a wonderful conference, no pretense, no politics to speak of, just a grass roots organization of women who walk softly on the earth helping others.

My friend Diane Hill spoke at this conference and she gave two workshops. I set up my table of dolls and my poetry books to sell. I also sold her books for her and gave out her brochures. I made some pin dolls to take with me as well as the other larger dolls. These dolls are a sample of dolls I made but I added legs. I enjoy making these little dolls and made some while Diane was speaking. The only doll that came home with me was the doll with the white face. That white face is a ceramic face made by my friend Steve Smith of Talking Earth Pottery.

This week I a am working on a few more pin dolls and I'm also gathering materials for the next story book that I am illustrating. The first book was one version of  the Creation Story from our people, the Haudenosaunee.(The French Call us Iroquois and the English call us The Six Nations among other things.) I say 'one version' because you have to remember that there are six different nations as well as the different clan families within these nations and although the story is the same the versions can be different. This first book with illustrations done in needle felting is written by Rick Hill, a noted historian and museum consultant from here at Six Nations. This next collection of illustrations I'm working on is to be done in mixed media. I'll say no more.
Have a great week.