The weather is holding back. The crowds arrive, the Black Brook Singers drum, the aromas of food beckon, and it’s a day to celebrate in Aquinnah for the annual Native Artisan Market and Festival.
The festival, in its 16th year, provides an opportunity for local — and non-local — Native American artists to sell, and teach how to make, jewelry and other items and gifts.
“It brings me great joy to organize something like this where we have a group of native artisans hand in making their things,” said Aquinnah Wampanoag NaDaizja Bolling, director of Aquinnah Cultural Center. He says the event continues to grow: “I’m excited to bring all these people to our Wampanoag land. It’s really special.”
While a good number of 20 craftsmen from Aquinnah, Douglas Vanderhoop traveled four days from Utah to return to his original home.
Vanderhoop comes every year to the festival with his family, spread out on three different tables at the festival.
While many of the Wampanoag artisans use wampum, each has a unique style. Vanderhoop happens to put wampum in the center of his dreamcatchers, which he superimposes on a framed image of the Gay Head Cliffs.
Just a few of the other artisans include Aquinnah Wampanoag jeweler Jannette Vanderhoop, who fashions necklaces out of shell, glass, and stone beads, and only uses wampum for accents. When she received quahog shells that weren’t right, Jannette Vanderhoop “scattered” them. “I cover them and say a little prayer to Moshup, and hope the tourists don’t find it,” he said. The Moshop in the Wampanoag culture is a sane creature with supernatural powers and a large frame. “It’s to put the calcium back in the ocean, and also in the hope that I can go back and find it refined,” continued Jannette Vanderhoop. “Because the people took every piece of wampum from the shore; you won’t find them like you used to.”
Jannette Vanderhoop did not buy her other beads, but recycled them from existing jewelry she was given.
“We’re taking every single resource out of the Earth and out of the ocean, and there’s already a lot of material,” he said. “My business model is to take things apart and create something new.”
Paiute Shoshone Mikala Jackson from Carson City, Nev., does the same, calling it “reclamation jewelry.”
Also selling jewelry at the festival this week is Aquinnah Wampanoag Tracy Leigh Adams. She made silver settings of her wampum bracelets and rings that accented the purple and white shell. He also creates silhouettes of zodiac signs, whale tales, hearts, etc., and enjoys specializing in custom designs.
Adams worked at Leslie’s Pharmacy for many years, and when customers would see the jewelry she was wearing, Adams recalls, “They would say to me, ‘You made that? You have to do that full-time.’ I finally listened to them. Now I can’t go on. I always say, ‘I was born and raised on the Island, and I’m lucky to stay,'” he said.
Seaconke Wampanoag Kristine Thomas-Jones features aromatic medicinal plants that she blends for teas and tinctures that help with things like a good night’s sleep.
Thomas-Jones combines valerian root, chamomile, rose buds, lavender, linden, and passionflower, hops, California poppy, lemon balm, and catnip.
She also makes morning tea with dandelion, orange peel, cinnamon, and ginger. “People think of dandelion as a weed, but it has many healing properties,” says Thomas-Jones. “It has a lot of iron and helps your liver, which is one of the most important organs because of the many jobs it does, such as digestion, helping to make more red blood cells, energy for our body, and blood clotting.”
Narragansett Robin Spears from Rhode Island works entirely with natural materials. She makes wooden dance sticks, and uses mink oil to bring a shine to white cedar earrings. He also boiled pine sap mixed with ash to make a glue that he used to attach the stone head to the ax handle.
There will also be teaching of the tradition of jewelry making at the festival. Mashpee Wampanoag Darius Coombs shows Kelso Gilman how to drill a hole in a quahog shell to make his own wampum pendant.
Coombs, who learned the art about 40 years ago from his elders, said that the bit, which is made of metal, was originally made of a hard stone, like quartz. Gilman, proudly playing his finished piece, said, “It was a little challenging at first, but eventually there was a rhythm to it.”
Asked what he thought of the day, Kelso’s father, Tim Gilman, reflected, “It’s a wonderful display of crafts, and an opportunity for the kids to participate in activities. It’s a great event for all to be involved.”
There was also a demonstration on how to make a sailor’s valentine. Aquinnah Wampanoag Beverly M. Wright teaches the youth how to glue small shells to the top of small wooden chests. The pieces recall what sailors did while on the South Sea islands and then brought home to their lovers, wives, and mothers.
Narragansett Dawn Spears from Rhode Island has been coming to the festival for more than 10 years because, as she says, “This is my home away from home.”
Showing how to make cornhusk dolls, he explained, “It goes back to not wasting anything. When we take the corn husks, we save and dry them,” he said.
Making these traditional dolls is not just about making a play area. The process of wrapping the skins to make the doll is complicated, and Spears shares that it helps you gain hand-eye coordination. And, he added, “After you finish, you wear it so you can teach your children how to sew, make moccasins and clothes so they can learn skills for the future.”
