The Grandmother of Canadian Native Art: Daphne Odjig

Odawa/Potawatomi Canadian artist Daphne Odjig, who’ll be turning 100 this Sept. 11th, is an award winning trendsetter as the first woman to recieve an eagle feather from the Wikwemikong Reserve, somthing that was reserved only for men before Odjig, and 5 honorary doctorates to her name.

Mental Floss has a post up about her in their ‘Feel Art Again’ Series where they cover 13 artists from 13 different countries.

ambo:

[ambo’s] great aunt, Hazel Pete.

deltafoxtrot:

BOULDER, Colo. – The Native American Rights Fund is initiating a working group to address government intervention in the lives of Native people who work with or use eagle feathers in traditional ways, and tribes are speaking out on the issue.

A number of feather workers and others from scores of tribes have called NARF to express concern about raids they said were conducted by the Fish and Wildlife Service, FBI and other law enforcement officials who have seized feathers and demanded documentation, said an attorney with the Native law/advocacy group.

According to a tribal member, the Northern Cheyenne tribal council recently passed a resolution to “continue to use eagles as has been the custom since time immemorial.”

The resolution also states that the tribal president will confer with the elected Wyoming-Montana tribal leadership, that a meeting will be convened with FWS and other federal officials, and that Congress should address the threat to traditional use of eagle feathers with legislation, said Steve Brady, of the Northern Cheyenne Cultural Commission.

Brady, who has testified on traditional eagle use before the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, said the resolution stemmed from the fact that eagles play a part in “every aspect of our culture and fundamental aspects of our way of life.”

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