Collections by Name | Collections by Region

Sisters of the Great Lakes / Nokomis Collection

The "Sisters of the Great Lakes"/Nokomis Collection grew out of the 1994 "Transcending Boundaries" project, a year-long series of professional development workshops, coordinated by the Nokomis American Indian Cultural Learning Center of Okemos, Michigan, for twenty American Indian women artists living in the Great Lakes region. Each project participant selected a piece for the collection they felt best represented their work and the collection includes portraits, biographies of artists, and color photographs of their baskets, pottery, beadwork, dolls, stained glass, sculptures, and drawings.

The accompanying exhibition and publication explored the ways in which American Indians, specifically women living in the Great Lakes region, visually address the complexities of being Indian in a modern world. It examines the multiple ways in which individuals express their identity as women, as artists, as American Indians, and as members of specific native communities. The collection counters the often stereotypical views of American Indian art, in general, and Great Lakes Indian art, in particular.

Donors and Fieldworkers

Nokomis American Indian Cultural Learning Center

Exhibitions

"Gatherings: Great Lakes Native Basket and Box Makers," Nokomis Learning Center, Okemos, Michigan, February - August 1999.

"Sisters of the Great Lakes: Art of American Indian Women," Nokomis Learning Center, Okemos, Michigan, September, 1995 - December, 1996; Hall of Ideas, Midland Center for the Arts, Midland, Michigan, January - March, 1997; The Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois, December 20, 1997 - July 5, 1998; Forest County Potawatomi Cultural Center & Museum, Crandon, Wisconsin, September - December, 2000; Fort Miami Heritage Society, St. Joseph, Michigan, May - September, 2002.

Publications

Marsha MacDowell and Janice Reed, eds. Sisters of the Great Lakes: Art of American Indian Women. East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University Museum in collaboration with the Nokomis Learning Center, 1995.

"Great Turtle Island," Lorraine Shananaquet, Ojibwe/Potawatomi, Okemos, Michigan, 1994