Take an art class led by Native American artists at the Long Island Children's Museum
Wampum, talking sticks, regalia, medicine wheels – these items are revered by Native Americans living on Long Island, and four members of the Shinnecock nation will be teaching visitors about them during this summer’s Toyuskanash exhibit at the Long Island Children’s Museum in Garden City.
“We have four Shinnecock artists coming together in a collaboration to celebrate Shinnecock culture, history and traditions continuing in the current day,” says Jeremy Dennis, 32, who lives on the Shinnecock territory in Southampton and is curating the show along with his mother, Denise Silva-Dennis, who also lives on the tribal ancestral Southampton land, and the museum staff.
Donna Bullwinkel, of Long Beach, and her granddaughter Sophia Bullwinkel, 3, at workshop taught by artist Denise “Weetahmoe” Silva-Dennis. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
Toyuskanash is the Algonquian language word for “Bridges,” and the exhibit is intended to be a bridge between the Shinnecock community and museum visitors.
Families will see beading, ribbon and applique work, ceremonial Native American clothing, painting, photography and collage. A storytelling area will share the Indigenous creation story called “The Sky Woman,” which tells that a pregnant woman fell from the sky towards the uninhabited Earth and was caught by birds that gently landed her on the back of a sea turtle. “Sea otters gifted her with mud from the bottom of the ocean so she could plant corn, beans and squash," Silva-Dennis says, from seeds she had in her pocket when she fell.
INTERACTIVE WORKSHOPS PLANNED
“Part of what the exhibit looks at is place, land and identity,” says Maureen Mangan, museum director of communications and marketing. An interactive map will show where land on Long Island was originally occupied by Native Americans, Mangan says.
“It’s a chance to make children especially know there are Native Americans here, still living on Long Island,” says Silva-Dennis, who also goes by her Native American name WeeTahMoe, which she says means "sweetheart" in Algonquian.
Artist Denise “Weetahmoe” Silva-Dennis demonstrates making traditional “Talking Sticks” with museum goers at a workshop in Garden City. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
In addition to offering their art displayed in a gallery, each of the four artists will take turns presenting free, interactive art workshops during the exhibit’s two-month run. Each will do eight workshops over a different two-week period.
Silva-Dennis, a retired elementary school teacher, plans to kick off the workshops by making talking sticks with families on selected dates through July 17.
Talking sticks are commonly used by indigenous people to facilitate communication. The indigenous people members will gather in a circle, she explains. “Everyone has to listen to the person holding the talking stick,” she says, and it gets passed from person to person until everyone has had a chance to speak uninterrupted. “It’s a peaceful way to resolve conflict.” Museumgoers will make their talking sticks out of pieces of driftwood collected from the shores of Long Island and embellish them with feathers and shells. They can take them home with them.
Donna Bullwinkel, 65, a retired special education teacher from Long Beach, took her granddaughters, ages 3 and 4, to see the exhibit, even though she said some of it went over their heads because they are still little. "They enjoyed the craft," Bullwinkel says.
Tohanash Tarrant, whose background is also part Hopi and Ho-Chunk, will help visitors make ribbon and applique medallions that are traditionally used to festoon regalia –special clothing worn for dancing at Pow Wows -- during her workshops between July 18 and 31. David Bunn Martine will offer his presentations between Aug. 1 and 14, and Dennis is planning to spearhead a scavenger hunt through the museum for items that remind families of Native American culture during his sessions between Aug. 15 and 28.
A COMMUNITY MEDICINE WHEEL
When workshops aren’t scheduled, visitors will be able to make bead necklaces from strips of leather and scallop seashells. In Native American tradition, beads created from quahog shells are called wampum, and the purple and white beads are highly valued, Silva-Dennis says.
During July, the four artists will collaborate on a medicine wheel, and on July 23, museum visitors will be able to contribute to the piece, which will then remain on display through August. A medicine wheel isn’t meant to cure an illness – it’s a symbol of the interconnectivity of all people. The wheel, which will be canvas stretched on plywood, will have four quadrants. Some say the quadrants represent the world’s different races – white, black, yellow and red – and that it is meant to heal society, Silva-Dennis says.
A complementary exhibit will be held at Ma's House & BIPOC Art Studio on the Shinnecock land in Southampton to encourage visits between the museum and the studio, Mangan says. Ma’s House is at 159 Old Point Rd., Southampton.
Toyuskanash (Bridges)
WHEN | WHERE Daily through Sept. 4 at the Long Island Children’s Museum, 11 Davis Ave., Garden City
COST Exhibit and workshops are free with museum admission, but museumgoers need to reserve a spot for a workshop upon arrival at the museum. Check website for workshop days and times. Admission is $15 per person, $14 for seniors, and younger than 1 is free.
INFO 516-224-5800, licm.org
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
