Antoinette Yazzie’s projects travel America

Antoinette Yazzie. (Sam Sandoval photo)

ST. IGNATIUS — Mission junior Antoinette Yazzie recently visited the Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C., but not as a tourist. Projects she and other participants created from the Journeys in Creativity Program were on display throughout the month of March.

Yazzie’s efforts came out of the Journeys in Creativity Program last summer. She was the first applicant from the Flathead Indian Reservation to apply; sixteen students participated in the two-week program on the campus of the Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, Oregon.

“Antoinette did extremely well,” said Shirod Younker, program director for the Journey in Creativity Program. During her stay, she made her own carving knife, canoe model and canoe paddle. Students attended lectures and research fieldtrips to understand the work needed for creating a canoe.

Students carved model canoes. These and other hand-made objects were on display in Oregon, Washington, D.C. and soon at the People’s Center. (courtesy photo)

Last year’s camp focused on the art of the canoe. Yazzie and her group also began carving a full sized 21-foot canoe, but could only finish part of it during the two-week program.

Their creations were shown at The Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde Governance Center in Oregon, The National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. during March, and is currently being shown at the Oregon Historical Museum. They will be also exhibited at the museum in Warm Springs, Oregon during July and then the People’s Center in Pablo during August.

Yazzie received help from the CSKT Tribal Council that supplemented her own fundraising so she could attend the exhibit’s opening in Washington, D.C.

Antoinette carved a paddle during the Journeys in Creativity program last summer. (courtesy photo)

Yazzie attends Upward Bound, is an honor student and works on the Mission High School yearbook staff.

Journey in Creativity was founded by tribal artists the late Susana “Apolonia” Santos and Pat Courtney-Gold of Warm Springs through the museum at Warm Springs and Kah-nee-ta High Desert Resort and Casino in partnership with the Oregon College of Art and Craft in 2004.

This year’s program will focus on traditions in metal. Featured instructors will be Tony Johnson (Chinook) and Nicholas Galanin (Haida). Deadline for the applications is June 3.

For more information, visit the Oregon College of Art and Craft at www.ocac.edu or go to www.myspace.com/
journeysincreativity. You can also e-mail Shirod Younker at syounker@ocac.edu.