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Cultural Heritage Center hosting Traditional Arts Demonstration Day on Sept. 14

The Museum of the South Dakota State Historical Society will host five American Indian traditional artists for Traditional Arts Demonstration Day from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. CDT on Saturday, Sept. 14, at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre.

The event is free, with free admission to the museum galleries as well. Refreshments will be served.

“Traditional Arts Demonstration Day is one of our favorite events at the museum,” said Jay Smith, museum director. “It is always a pleasure to have the artists here showing the visitors how they create their beautiful work and sharing their knowledge of traditional skills.”

The following South Dakota artists will be present on Sept. 14:

  • Alana Traversie of Pierre will demonstrate bead working. Traversie learned to bead earrings and do simple loom patterns at an early age. She taught herself to bead other objects, and today her specialty is making beaded moccasins.
     
  • Mike Marshall is a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe who lives and works in Mission. He will share his extensive knowledge of traditional Lakota games and toys and make traditional game pieces. Visitors will be able to make games for themselves, with supplies provided. Marshall does painting, sculpture, metalwork, ledger art, batiks (an Indonesian cloth-dyeing technique), and parfleche (envelope-shaped) boxes.
     
  • Jennifer Carter of Fort Pierre will demonstrate traditional star quilting. The single star that dominates most star quilts is made of small diamond-shaped fabric patches pieced together into eight sections. The eight-sided star is formed when these sections are joined together.
     
  • Colleen Cordell is the sole proprietor of Colleen’s Gardens & Native American Products in Marvin. She is a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe. Cordell learned her growing and crafting skills from her grandmother and great-grandmother. She will be making dreamcatchers.
     
  • Randilynn Boucher, a Dakota and Navajo beadwork and textile artist, lives in Pine Ridge. She does beadwork, quillwork, and ribbon work. Boucher won the Founder’s Award for the most innovative use of culturally specific methods or techniques at the 50th Red Cloud Indian Art Show in 2018.

The museum is open from 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. CDT Monday through Saturday and 1-4:30 p.m. on Sundays and most holidays through Labor Day. Beginning Tuesday, Sept. 3, hours will be 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1-4:30 p.m. on Sundays and most holidays. Call 605-773-3458 for more information about exhibits, special events, and upcoming activities.

About the South Dakota State Historical Society
The South Dakota State Historical Society is a division of the Department of Education. The State Historical Society, an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, is headquartered at the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. The center houses the society’s world-class museum, the archives, and the historic preservation, publishing and administrative/development offices. Call 605-773-3458 or visit www.history.sd.gov for more information. The society also has an archaeology office in Rapid City; call 605-394-1936 for more information.