Native American Women Artists – Star Quilting
Many crafts such as beadwork, basketry, pottery, sculpting, quilting, dolls, and clothing help to preserve the Native American heritage and culture. For the next few weeks, we will share the stories of these gifted artists.
This week we feature the Lakota Star Quilt Artists. Generosity is an important virtue among the Lakota (Sioux) people. These quilts have been used as gifts for ceremonies and special occasions. It is considered an honor to receive one of these quilts.
Some historians say that the star quilts were used as a symbolic replacement of the buffalo robes which have mostly disappeared. Each group uses colors and designs that are traditional to them. They have been used as banners at school graduations, altar cloths in churches, markers for weddings and births, and as gestures of sympathy for the passing of loved ones.
Wilma Thin Elk (b. 1938)
Wilma Thin Elk is an Oglala Lakota elder who is passionate about her heritage. She expresses her love for her community in many ways with her involvement in education, activism, and art.
Wilma demonstrated her belief in a need for education by obtaining her degree in elementary education with an emphasis on Early Childhood education. She is a role model for non-traditional students because she balanced her family responsibilities with work and study. She recognizes the value of home education. She teaches her grandchildren the Lakota language to make sure that it is preserved for future generations.
When her thirteen-year old granddaughter was killed by a drunk driver who got away with no conviction, she sought justice. She became involved with MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving). She has fought for tougher laws on reservations and for better police enforcement of the drunk driver regulations.
Wilma is actively involved in cultural events such as powwows and other community gatherings. She participates with the elders in her community to address the issues in the Pine Ridge Reservation. She is also involved with organizations such as the Whiteclay Makerspace which provides artistic activities for youth to engage in as alternatives to alcohol and drug abuse.
One way that Wilma helps to preserve her culture is with the making of Star Quilts. She began sewing at age fourteen after a Womanhood Ceremony which is considered very sacred. She has made many quilts for her family. “The star, she explains, is symbolic of Christ’s birth, and guided the three wise men to Bethlehem.”[1]She received this wisdom from her grandmother.
Wilma has also made specialty quilts such as the Buffalo, Medicine Wheel, and Bronco Rider. She earns extra money while making quilts for celebrations and memorials. She quilts by hand and machine marks the top.
Wilma is most well-known for her efforts to preserve the Lakota language. Her humbleness, passion for her culture and work in her community make her one of the most respected people in the Oglala Lakota community.
Vera Good Lance (1933-2014)
Vera Good Lance (“Ta Tewaha Gluha Mani Wi”) was a long time Oglala resident. She began making quilts at the age of seventeen. She gave them as gifts for Naming ceremonies when a child was given a Lakota name. These names were passed down from their grandparents. Recipients were honored to receive her quilts.
Leola One Feather (b. 1954)
A very gifted artist in many media, Leola was born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Her mother, Mary One Feather taught her how to sew on her treadle sewing machine at age seven. Leolo broke a lot of needles! Her patient mother continued to guide her and Leola made her first star quilt of a candy cane design at age fifteen which she kept for her own bed.
People began to request her quilts and she designed them to have special meaning. They represent the Lakota culture. Leola also designs outfits and accessories such as lighter wraps, key chain holders and hair ties using bead work. She also delves in to southern-style ribbon work and quill work. She crafts beautiful Indian dolls with intricate bead work. She is an experienced hide-tanner and painter.
Pansy Two Bulls Weasel Bear (b. 1961)
Another Oglala woman from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, her tribe is the Tatanka Nunpa Tiospaye. L. Pansy grew tired of buying quilts and decided to make her own. Her first one was for her third daughter, Mary, at her high school graduation. She also makes ribbon and ceremonial dresses, shirts for men, fancy shawls, and beaded butterflies.
Germaine Moves Camp (b. 1958)
Germaine was born in Pine Ridge, South Dalota, to Ellen Winter Moves Camp. She is a descendent of the great Lakota Chief Red Cloud. Germaine learned star quilting from her mother at age eighteen. She made her first full quilt at age twenty. She and her mother once made twenty-five quilts in fourteen days! She makes her quilts to honor people during their hard times or to honor them.
Ernestine Joyce Bell (b. 1929-2012)
Ernestine is also from Pine Ridge. She was born in Sturgis and grew up in Slim Buttes, SD. Her parents, Bessie Brings and Ed Red Feather were both full-blood Lakota.
She learned to make quilts from her grandmother and mother at age 10. She made them for ceremonies and other occasions such as graduations and memorials.
Regina Brave (b. 1941)
Regina was born in Oglala to Milton and Sarah (Belt) Brave. She went to Holy Rosary Mission school (now known as Red Cloud). She learned to cut patterns when she was twelve years old. By age 14, she was making school uniforms.
She taught herself to make star quilts in 1970. She also does crochet, embroidery, and cross-stitch. She makes ribbon shirts, vests, dance outfits, and embroiders her own designs on her quilts.
She moved to Denver in 1976 but returned to the reservation in 1999. Her inspiration was her grandmother, Lizzy Walks Out Belt. When Lizzy was in her 70’s she hitchhiked to work for the Foster Grandparents Program in Pine Ridge. At age 80, Lizzy obtained a role as Maizie Blue Legs in the movie, Thunderheart. Lizzy made star quilts on a Singer treadle sewing machine and beginning in 1960 her crafts were Lizzy’s only source of income. Her last star quilt was made for the actor Val Kilmer in 1992.
While mourning her grandmother, Regina began to design and copyright her own contemporary and traditional designs in the diamonds of the star quilts.
Regina is a US Navy veteran. She added the Marine Corp emblem to one of her star quilts in 2006 and entered it into the Veterans Creative Arts local art show and was awarded First Place. She would like to have star quilt shows for all the Oglala Lakota artists and turn it into an annual event.
Regina has also been an activist. She was at Wounded Knee in 1973 when the American Indian Movement occupied the hamlet on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. I will do a further post on Regina and her activism later this year.
Cheryl Arguello (b. 1959)
Cheryl learned the craft of quilt making from her mother. She serves her Native American people as a pastor of Pierre Lakota Chapel. Here is a website:
https://www.lakotachapel.org/cheryl_arguello_12965
Norma Blacksmith (1940-2023)
Norma “Ta Pejuta Waste Win” was born on May 27, 1940, to Asa Walks Out and Elizabeth Blacksmith. She was taught to sew by her mother. She began her own business in 1986 as a seamstress and quilter. She taught students at Oglala Lakota College to make star quilts as a way to help preserve their heritage.
In 2011 her dream of opening a Native Quilting Shop came true when she opened for business. She honors people in her community by wrapping them in her star quilts and singing songs over them.
You can see many star quilts at powwows and find them in gift shops. Other tribes have begun making their own versions of star quilts. Some say that the star quilt has surpassed the Pendleton blanket in popularity. You can certainly find many on the web!!
[1] KB Schaller. 100+ Native American Women Who Changed the World (Peppertree Press: Sarasota, FL, 2014) p. 89
