We were thrilled to have world renowned Lakota Artist, Dancer and Master of Traditional Flutes Kevin Locke join us for a flute making workshop. Kevin shared traditional teachings about the flute, took kids through the process of building their own flutes and taught them to play!
The art room was hopping from morning till night.
Students experimented with numerous mediums …
theȟpí! (a soft tanned hide)
The Black Hills Arts Intensives included a 5-day workshop on hide-tanning. Students took three deer-hides – one already prepared as rawhide and two “green” hides that needed to be fleshed and de-haired – through the stages of soaking, stretching, fleshing, scraping, and tanning! It was a lot of work, but we had an awesome time! Avi worked around the clock to finish the first one, with the end result being beautifully tanned deerskin! Already looking forward to next year!
wahápaȟpA: fleshing the hide
Stretching the fleshed hide in the frame
Moving the hide-frame into the sun to dry
De-hairing!
Teamwork!
wahátka: scraping the dry hide
tȟahásaka: the untanned hide(s) with hair removed and dried
Elbow-grease!
carefully scraping the hide with the wahíŋtka (elk-horn scraper)
Sanding the hide
wakpáŋyAŋ (tanning) the hide by stretching
yuȟúŋtA: softening the hide by rubbing it back and forth against the iyúȟuŋte (softening rope)
Smoking the hide with cottonwood
Success!
The theme for October is NATURE. This idea can be interpreted any way you want using any mediums you want. The deadline for submissions is October 1st.
Students can submit several ways – the most preferred is through your school. You can also email us directly or submit via Facebook. Every artist needs to fill out a release form. You can download here: Mitakuye Artist Info & Release Form 2018 UPDATE
Some helpful notes on submitting:
Please make sure all submissions have the students full name, age, school, and grade. Submissions come in best when they are scanned using a color printer. If you are going to take a photo – please stand the picture against a wall in good light (preferably out doors) with no shadows. Images are best when they are shot straight on and the art work is filling the frame. We want to give the highest quality version of your artwork to our judges! Video files and sound files can be sent for submissions that include dance, music, film, or other mediums that can not be photographed. Writing can be submitted as a PDF file or Word doc.
If you have questions feel free to email us at info@mitakuyefoundation.com or give us a call (605) 454-4000.
The highlight of our Summer Arts programming was a 6 day sleep-away intensive in the Black Hills. Students from all over the reservation came together as a unified group of artists to create work in their ancestral lands. The coursework included Visual Art, Digital Art, Dance, Yoga, Music, Music Production, Film, Writing, Photography, and Traditional Arts, including: beadwork, plant medicines, traditional hide-tanning, and a traditional flute-making and dance workshop taught by world renowned Lakota artist Kevin Locke. In addition to the artists that came to teach, we had elders, mentors and community leaders to enrich all aspects of the program.
More Highlights to come …
Our beautiful location!
Students gather for morning circle
Drummers prepare for morning song
Morning yoga
Light and Color in the art room
Film class
Writing class
Plant medicines
Flute workshop
Kevin Locke teaches traditional flute
WATERSLIDE!!
S’MORES!!
Evening campfire
We brought the art to the streets in Pine Ridge! We worked with young people from the Kidz Club at YO Park in downtown Pine Ridge. Kids did work in visual art, music, dance and acro-yoga, film, and photography!
Art Class with Z!
Art Walk in Pine Ridge
Art Class
Photography lesson with Simon
James’s Awesome Photo Assignment!
Music Lesson with Paul
Acro-Yoga!
Acro-Yoga!
Acro-Yoga
Filmmaking!
Film Class in Pine Ridge!
Perspective
The first stop on our Summer Arts Immersion programs was Crazy Horse, a K-12 school in Wanblee. Students in Kindergarten through High School did work in visual art, film, music and music production, photography, and dance. We finished up recording a song students wrote last spring and began shooting footage for a music video students are creating to the song. We will be back in September to finish up production on the song and music video. Here is a draft of the song so far:
Film Class with Laffrey and Ellen
Piano Lesson with Paul
Learning the Camera
Practicing Camera Skills
Art Class
A Good Day’s Work!
Getting ready to shoot the music video!
Practicing for the music video
Students participating in the music video
A young actress performs her part in the music video
The 36th Annual 500 Mile Sacred Hoop Run!
The Mitakuye Foundation has been honored to support The 500 Mile Sacred Hoop Run for the last 7 years!
The kids run in prayer for 5 days in a 500 mile relay to sacred sites around the Black Hills. It is a powerful and important event that brings children, families, and communities together from across the reservation.
Thank You to everyone who has supported the runners! This year we were able to provide several thousand dollars of support, including the annual commemorative t-shirts. A special shout-out to Josh Fox who featured the runners in his film, Awake, and to Jeri Baker and ONE SPIRIT who helped provide food, gas, and supplies! We have been documenting the Run since 2012 and will be featuring it in our upcoming film, The Heart of Everything That Is.
Prayer Circle at Devil’s Tower
Prayers
Tug of war at Devils Tower.
Running for Raelee
The final approach at Bear Butte
All of us here at The Mitakuye Foundation would like to say WOPILA TANKA (THANK YOU VERY MUCH!) to the many donors and sponsors who have supported and contributed to our 2018 Summer Arts Programs so far!
It is a beautiful thing to see how many people want to create life-affirming opportunities for the young people of Pine Ridge! And it is all the more meaningful that so many people – who may not have much themselves – feel so moved to show care and concern for the youth. And we want to publicly thank you all here:
Victoria Mudd, Dorothy Polash.
Maureen Milligan, Josh Fox, Jean Rousseau.
Timothy Gann, Sachi Amatya, Mary Gleason, Marti Forker-Vernon.
Swami Sarvadevananda, Elizabeth Casebolt, Mike Hendrickson, Amelie Ratliff, Melissa Rathbone, Anne Rendeiro, Jillian Harris.
Vanne Mocilac, Roy Vongtama, Prisca Winslow, Susan Henley, Melissa Ewing, Christina Borello, Vida Vierra, Madison Madden, Leah Alperin, Joel Masser, Glenn F Gang, Julio Toruno, Thomas Ginoza, Jerome Valenta, Justin Laplante, Georgina Cullman, Leith Moshimer, Emily Spurlin, Emilie McConville, Jennifer Matisiak, Aran Levine, Rachel Schiff, Toby Rae, Jennifer Klisak, Daniel Engbretson.
Susana Funsten, Gloria Healy, Alina Smith, Katherine B Colacchio, Brynnae Dempster, Walt Stewart, April Faciane, Robbin Payne-Torre, Ira Shor, Jannett Behlau, Earl Grove, Mary Yates, Robert Deshotels, Lindsay Mack LLC, Sarah Doran, Christianna Wincek, Julia Koerber, Joshua Basch, Tamar Anitai, Paul Osgerby, Laureen Ellison, Kelsey Moore, Laura von Holt Creative Enterprises, Maya Rohr, Samantha Huggins, Syd Hansen, Tanner Hartsock, Tess Wier, Alicia Waters Yoga, Jana Saout.
Hugh Borax, Functional Feng Shui / Vicky Iskander, Dawn Moore, Sivan Orr, Carolyn A Kidder, Andrea de Lange, Patricia Murphy, Makoto Arai, Eric Spaar, Donna Soto, Tina Zimmerman, Beth Semel, Amanda Powell, Kelli Kikcio, Anna Evanson, Kenji Yamada, Angela Glasscock, Megan Scott, Diane Post, Leon Sun, Lorraine Priceman, Teresa Dennison, Kyra Norsigian, Carol Van Houten, Rosemary Bay, Danielle Rose, Chris Frogner, Megan McGuire, Robin Snellgrove, Meghan Tynan, Laura Anaya, Maia Blendermann, Jennifer Greenfield, Nancy Mathews, Anna Nisi, Moodscape, Carmen Moore, Skin Paper Cloth LLC, Jessica Hallinan, Matt Allison, Alanna Shadrake, Moriah Simmons, Sandra Dowd, Alexandra Forst, The Night Gallery, Health Capacity/Rhonda Jessum, James Hall, Helen Dickey, Jason Kleidouhakis, Louise Hayward, Emilie Cobb, Colleen Ladd, Corvid Craft,Virginia Herndon, Eloise Sherrid, Patrick Beane, John C, Natalie Reitz, Charlene Van Hoozen, Blissen /Jill Bliss, Natalie Willoughby, Alicia Gary, Mallory Nielson, Katelyn Steffen, Caitlyn Cournale, Kelly Vondracek.
Bob Stevens, Mary Hadcock, Jennifer Stevenson, Maribeth Helen, Chyanss Gish, Rachel Dyer, Tatiana Chavitage, Lilly Knopf, Savannah Mirisola-Sullivan, Raphael Augustin, Richard Waters, Vende Miriam Sells, William Hanson, Treva Silverman, Ron Matthews, Richard Holley, Marie Heaney, Betsy Reed, Justin Rodgers, Hillary Mulka, Jennifer DeLong, Krystal Gibbon, Uncaged Tarot, Ingrid Alcover, Elizabeth Perniciaro, Kasey Brooks, Zoe Zulauf, Brenda Conken, Margaret Page, Abigayel Phillips, Georgia Valentine, Elizabeth Childers, Lincoln Smith, Emily Greene, Fifth Gate LARP LLC, Lindsay Eanet, Emily Rounds, Jessica Masson, Ashley Galvan, Krystal Cleary, George Carenzo, Emily Barrett, Timothy Andrews, Aimee Hall, Tedd Ward Jr, Lynn Shoemaker, Nancy Kathryn Burns, Elizabeth Searle.
It has been an incredible few weeks of summer programs on Pine Ridge! In the upcoming days we will be sharing posts on the 500 Mile Sacred Hoop Prayer Run and our Hoye Wayelo Arts Immersion Programs in Wanblee, Pine Ridge, and the Black Hills. Stay tuned for lots of pictures, lots of art, news about our end of summer programming, and a very special thank you for all of the amazing people who helped to make all of this happen! Here are a few highlights to start:
Arts Residency at Crazy Horse
The Art Room, Black Hills Intensive
Summer Arts in Pine Ridge
Young Artist at Crazy Horse
Black Hills
Art Walk Pine Ridge
Hide Tanning, Black Hills Intensive
Filmmaking in the Black Hills
500 Mile Sacred Hoop Run