Pandemic Survivor

 

I was at the Heard Museum yesterday for another of their Artful Mornings lectures.  This time it was about the work of Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty.  

She made this soft sculpture in 2021 working on it during the pandemic.  It's called "Wakitantanka (Strong-willed) Pandemic Survivor".  The curator explained how some of the details in the sculpture are made.  Those copper "pennies" are actually tiny replicas of actual pennies. That front panel is woven from dyed porcupine quills. Other elements include glass seed beads, cloth and ribbon. 

I did this close up so you could see the detail in that beaded mask.  This statue was only 20 inches high so its head is about the size of a Barbie doll's head.  The detail in the tiny mask is incredible.

One of the members attending asked how they gathered porcupine quills and she told us that Native Americans do things to scare the porcupines.  That raises their quills quickly and they tend to lose some in the process.  They gather up what is lost. 

I love these lectures.  I learn so much and I appreciate the art even more.