Clovis Community College Art Exhibitions: November 2022: Native Voices

Photo Credit: Shawn Miller

The Library of Congress offers teachers and other educators ideas for using U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo's signature project, "Living Nations, Living Words," A Guide for Educators. 

Jennifer Malone, Wukchumni Language Teacher/Basket weaver Teacher

We have Native heirlooms on loan from one of our oldest families in the Central Valley. It is a very small Wukchumni collection of over one hundred-year-old basketry. Interestingly, there is a museum in the Valley with her family's baskets in addition to the Autry Museum in Los Angeles, which has many of their baskets. She has also loaned us two cradleboards that were more recently made. California basket weaving is incredibly rich in history, and content.

Corky Mills' Lakota name is Winyan Ishnala, or “Lone Woman.” She is from the Cheyenne River Eagle Butte Agency of Eagle Butte, South Dakota. Mills is a descendant of Chiefs White Horse, White Swan, War Eagle and John Grass.

Millie Richards Vela's Lakota name is Winyan Hunska, or “Tall Woman,” is a member of the Oglala Tribe of Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Vela comes from a family of renowned quilters whose works are part of the Smithsonian National Quilt Collection.

“The Shawl Project: Winyan Omnicha – Gathering of the Women” brings women together in a six-week period to learn to make traditional Native American shawls while learning about tribal histories and culture from community elders. During this time, the women are taught to make traditional Native American shawls, which are often worn as part of women’s regalia at powwows. Making shawls for powwows is an artistic and culturally charged endeavor. The Shawl Project is led by Tulare residents and elders Corky Mills and Millie Richards Vela. Mills and Vela bring a combined 160 winters (years) of knowledge and experience to the project.

Winyan Omnicha -The Gathering of the Women is now becoming a nonprofit Native Organization. That’s focus will be to help all Native Tribal people. Its founding idea is a Native concept that is rooted from the experiences on the Reservation in South Dakota where Corky Mills and Millie Vela were raised. Growing up, the women would gather. If someone were sick or needed help, it was the women who provided the care for them. New mothers were guided and cared for. Projects like sewing quilts and shawls were communal. There was no one in charge; it was simply a beautiful way to provide comfort.