Arts and crafts displays offer up traditional flavor

By RENEE FITE
Special Writer

TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS October 06, 2008 10:39 am

— Greeted by flute music floating on the air and canvas tent tops of artisans dotting the grounds of the Cherokee Square, weekend visitors to Tahlequah may have had a hard time deciding where to go first.
Hand-crafted, woven, carved and beaded pieces were displayed on tables and shelves, some with the stripes of native blankets blowing in the breeze.
Beautiful jams, relishes and barbecue sauce, homemade meat and fruit pies and other food vendors generated fragrant aromas to smell and samples to taste.
The Tahlequah Arts and Crafts Festival and Cherokee Art on the Square brought Henry Smoke from Sallisaw, with his carved walkingsticks of sassafras and other woods.
Looking up from under his black cowboy hat with beaded hatband, he stopped carving on an eagle head.
“I just finished a wolf head,” he said with a smile, reaching for a finished piece. “I’ll paint it and polish it; it’ll look pretty.”
Then he gestured to a walkingstick with a diamond-shaped design, leaning against a tree. A closer look revealed he created the designs by carving different layers in the sassafras wood.
Another unique piece is curved around, with a snake carved in it.
“Honey-suckle vine shaped this piece of wood, curving it around and around like this,” he said, moving his hand in a circular motion around it. “See the snake?”
Green wood is easier to carve, he said, because seasoned wood gets hard.
Smoke has been carving 45 years. He used to watch his grandpa, who was also a blacksmith, do carving.
His work includes dancing tortoise-shell rattles with sassafras sticks; a decorative peace pipe that has a hole all the way through and can really work; stick ball sticks; mini drums; and leather seals with a bow in the design.
Although his pieces sell in stores and museums, he enjoys getting out to fairs and festivals.
“I like to go out and see people, have fun with them,” he said, “and to see something, how they make it, all the hard work. People make it different ways.”
Looking around at his creations, he said, “My daughters make jewelry and do all the beadwork.”
Gloria King and Rhonda Smoke also make medicine bags, watch bands, bolo ties, key chains and earrings.
“I like to show my work and enjoy meeting people,” King said. “And get out of the house.”
Being outside appeals to Rhonda Smoke.
“This gives people the opportunity to meet the artists,” she said.
“And ask questions,” King added, picking up a beaded wallet. “Some ask how long it takes me to do these on a loom. I also have to sew them on the back and to the leather wallet. It takes a while to do it and have it look good.”
Smoke learned from her mother.
“I make hair barrettes. I picked it up off her. I’m carrying on my mom’s work,” she said. “I like to make butterflies and ovals.”
Jean and Richard Barch-enger grow much of the food they eat and sell at their Wildcat Creek Ranch in Claremore. He makes the barbecue sauce and cards he designed.
A retired nurse, Jean has a range of items to taste that bring back memories of grandmas’ kitchens, from pepper jelly to pineapple jam. Between them, they had 24 products. Last year, she make 963 pints, not counting quarts of his barbecue sauce. She also makes quilts, crochets sweaters, and sells Arvel Bird Paiute country fiddle CDs.
“I play them when I’m quilting,” she said. “I’m in my own little world.”
They try to keep their products as healthy and pure as possible.
Watching people’s reactions when they taste a sample is fun for her.
“People rave about the apple butter,” she said.
Customer Tom Tinnin was singing the praises of the bread and butter pickles he had purchased.
“They’re sweet with a little spice; it’s really good,” Tinnin said.
Having been to several of the booths, Tinnin said he liked the art work and the food.
“[Bill] Rabbit does some really bright, dynamic stuff,” he said. “The meat pies from Oaks Community are good. They also have raisin, apple and cherry.”
He thinks the event is a great way to showcase the area’s Native American heritage and roots and the community.
“We have a unique blend here,” he said. “Such natural beauty and culture, rivers and lakes, small-town atmosphere. NSU is turning 100 and brings in talent. And there’s football with rivalries like Keys and Sequoyah high schools. There is a good mix of people here. And we just missed the leaves turning by about two weeks. They’re just starting to turn.”
It was Barchenger’s turn to brag about this community.
“Chief [Chad] Smith should be so proud of his [Cherokee] people,” she said. “They’ll do anything they can to help you. I don’t say that about everybody. People here in Tahlequah are really nice. We like coming here and making new friends.”
Candy Brewer has enjoyed beading jewelry for about 15 years.
“It’s good therapy,” Brewer said. “I like creating pretty things.”
And she enjoys bartering with other vendors: “There’s some beautiful stuff here.”
Josephine Summerfield and her daughters came from Jay and Eucha with jewelry, dolls, lamps and more.
“We like meeting new people, making new friends and being able to sell what we make,” Summerfield said. “Sometimes people from far off buy our jewelry, and it goes a long way.”
The Cherokee Artists Association booth featured pieces from many of their artists, like Bill Rabbit, Sharon Irby, Bill Glass and potter Mike Daniel.
“This is advertising our gallery and the association,” Daniel said.
Chainsaw sculptor Dean Anson plans to join the group.
“I’m Cherokee, and I want to pursue my dream,” Anson said.
“This is a Cherokee Nation event,” said Donna Tinnins, a Tourism Development and Planning specialist with the tribe. “It was planned to help Cherokee citizens to have another outlet for them to share their talents. We have a minimal fee for Cherokee citizens to set up.”
Success, she said, “is for our Native American community to be able to share their more traditional arts and crafts and sell for profit.”

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