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Authentically rustic
Sisters festival offers a sample of the Old West
Nick Grube / The Bulletin
September 6, 2010 4:00 am
SISTERS —
Cowboy hats, American Indian shelters and tanned hide — lots of it — helped add to the rustic authenticity of the ninth annual Western and Native American Arts Festival at Creekside Park in Sisters on Sunday.
The event showcased the art of a number of Central Oregon artists, some of whom specialized in re-creating traditional wares, such as obsidian knives, hand-stitched leather bags and beaded Native American regalia, that defined the cultures of the Western U.S. in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
“I grew up around this kind of stuff,” said Jess Anders, a Sisters artist who built a Native American lodge for the event and wore a deerskin tunic and leggings to help set the mood. “It's just my hobby.”
Anders used to live near the Flathead Reservation in Montana, and developed an interest in American Indian culture at a young age.
He participates in historical re-enactments and rendezvous around the country, and makes art that looks like Old West artifacts, such as leather sheaths and beaded necklaces that one would expect to find in a museum showcase.
In fact, Anders said he spends much of his time in museums researching his future artwork to make sure he gets it absolutely correct. One of the pieces he had on display was a tanned hide with paintings of horses that replicates a Mandan buffalo robe given to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their westward trip across the U.S.
“My goal is to make it authentically and historically correct,” Anders said. “It's fun for me, and it challenges me.”
Molly Kubista, a Samish Indian, who lives in Terrebonne, also puts her artwork in a historical context. She makes jewelry using beads and antlers from deer she has killed, and also draws horses on old business ledgers she finds from the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Some of this ledger art has been displayed in exhibits throughout the country, including at the High Desert Museum south of Bend.
The reason she puts her art on the ledgers, she said, is because many American Indians would trade for the paper because it was easier to write or draw on than other materials, like animal hides, that were available at the time.
“Indians modernized and adapted to whatever came their way that made their lives easier,” Kubista said. “I love history, and so the history is what makes me want to do this because it's so interesting.”
Not all the artwork at the weekend festival included a history lesson from the artists. Some of the work simply fit with the western mentality and rugged lifestyle that can be found in parts of Central Oregon.
At Bend resident Mike Scott's display, there were animal pelts hung near cow-hide bar stools, hand-stitched leather purses his father made, and lamps and chandeliers made from the antlers of ungulates. The pelts came from trappers he knew in Idaho, and he said he traded some of his log furniture — much of it made using juniper trees — to add them to his inventory.
“I started making some stuff for the house, which more or less turned into a full-time hobby,” Scott said with a shrug from under his cowboy hat. “I was born in Colorado and raised in Montana, so I've been western my whole life.”
