Artists & Educators
Vanessa Jennings
Bead and leatherwork, regalia-making
Vanessa Paukeigope Jennings, an artist of Kiowa, Apache, and Pima Indian descent, lives near Fort Cobb, Oklahoma and is renowned for her bead and leatherwork, as well as the ceremonial regalia she creates. Last year, Vanessa was chosen as the “Honored One” by the Red Earth Indian Center of Oklahoma City, and in 1989 she received the National Endowment for the Arts’ prestigious National Heritage Fellowship. Her work has been exhibited extensively including the Smithsonian Institution. Raised by her artistic grandparents, who taught her that Kiowas were “dancing people,” Vanessa says that she is “the only active cradleboard maker among my Kiowa and Apache relatives. I teach and give free classes in making buckskin dresses, moccasins, and women’s leggings. No one else is doing that!”
Visit http://www.texasfolklife.org/programs/powwows.htm for more information.
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