Vermont Abenaki Artists Association
Honoring Abenaki history, culture, and art since 2013.
Each year, the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association partners with the Abenaki Arts & Education Center to present a speaker series. Native American and Non-Native subject matter experts from different disciplines come together to discuss important topics.
The term “Two-Eyed seeing,” coined by Mi’kmaw Nation Elder Albert Marshall, describes the experience of seeing the strength of Indigenous knowledge with one eye and the strength of Western knowledge with the other. Series speakers will share perspectives on community relationships to regional waterways, including archaeology, ecology, advocacy, Western and Indigenous science, and more.
NH Rep. Sherry Gould (Nulhegan Abenaki), a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, and Dr. Robert Goodby of Monadnock Archaeological Consulting are long-time friends and collaborators. As charter members of the New Hampshire Commission on Native American Affairs, Sherry served as Chair and Bob was the representative appointed by the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources.
In honor of World Water Day, the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association (VAAA) was pleased to present Kwanitekw (Connecticut River): The Sustainer of Life. On March 22 at 7 pm, a panel of Indigenous citizens and environmental scientists met to share multiple perspectives on living in relationship with the Connecticut River watershed.
The Two-Eyed Seeing speaker series was supported in part by the Vermont Humanities, Vermont Arts Council, and program partners Abenaki Arts and Education Center, Abenaki Trails Project, Institute for American Indian Studies, Connecticut River Conservancy, Monadnock Archeology Consultants, and the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Fulcrum Press.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed do not necessarily represent those
of the presenters and do not reflect those of the partner organizations or supporters.
The VAAA and the Abenaki Arts and Education Center often work together or with some of our sponsors to present programs during the year. Over the past several years, we have had the opportunity to feature some wonderful programs by artists, genealogists, ecologists, a poet laureate…….and the list goes on.
If you have missed a program that you really wanted to attend, or if you want to revisit any of the programs, please review the following list and click on the provided link to be taken to our YouTube page.
Note that most of the videos listed below have Human Generated Captions for Accessibility. Special thanks to the Vermont Arts Council and Vermont Humanities for their support.
NH Rep. Sherry Gould (Nulhegan Abenaki), a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, and Dr. Robert Goodby of Monadnock Archaeological Consulting are long-time friends and collaborators. As charter members of the New Hampshire Commission on Native American Affairs, Sherry served as Chair and Bob was the representative appointed by the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources.
A Year of Moons with Joe Bruchac (Human Generated Captions)
The Abenaki Arts & Education Center welcomed author Joe Bruchac in a discussion about his new book “A Year of Moons: Stories from the Adirondack Foothills, a collection of essays that reflect on the rhythms of the land, the lunar cycles of the year, the plants and animals that surround us, and the connections that link humans, animals and the land.
Firsting and Lasting: Writing Indians Out of Existence in New England
In this talk, Jean O’Brien narrates the argument she makes in her book, Firsting and Lasting, that local histories written in the nineteenth century became a primary means by which Euro-Americans asserted their own modernity while denying it to Indian peoples.
Outdoor education is placed-based work that relies on land-based knowledge which often borrows from Native American survival and cultural craft skills. This type of work and connection to the land may lead educators to wonder how they can be good allies for the American Abenaki people. Panelists from several Abenaki cultural organizations will discuss their organizations and allyship needs.
Abenaki Basket Makers (Human Voice Captioned)
The 2021 Virtual Abenaki Heritage Weekend presents “Abenaki Basket Makers” featuring Sherry Gould of the Nulhegan Abenaki Heritage Preservation Department. In this presentation, she discusses basket-making traditions in N’Dakinna (Abenaki for “our homeland”).
In honor of World Water Day, the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association (VAAA) was pleased to present Kwanitekw (Connecticut River): The Sustainer of Life. On March 22 at 7pm, a panel of Indigenous citizens and environmental scientists met to share multiple perspectives on living in relationship with the Connecticut River watershed.
Abenaki Pottery featuring Vicki Blanchard (Human Generated Captions)
In this short video, Vicki Blanchard, an Abenaki potter, explains the new pottery project that is leading her into museum collections to study pottery made by her ancestors. She is now incorporating these designs into her own pottery.
On Tuesday, May 2, 2023, at 12pm, the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs, along with the Abenaki Alliance, Vermont Abenaki tribal leaders, and community representatives, held a press conference to celebrate Governor Scott’s Proclamation 23-054 naming May 1-7, 2023 as Abenaki Recognition and Heritage Week.
Abenaki Fish-Ins – Interview with Joe Bruchac (Human Generated Captions)
Joe Bruchac describes his experience during the historic Abenaki Fish-Ins led by Chief Homer St. Francis (Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe). For over forty years, Joseph Bruchac has been creating literature and music that reflect his indigenous heritage and traditions. He is a proud Nulhegan Abenaki citizen and a respected elder among his people. He is the author of more than 120 books for children and adults.
In this virtual session, we welcome Jim Taylor (Elnu Abenaki Tribe in Southern Vermont), a talented graphic artist, who also works in many traditional and contemporary media forms, including quillwork, carving, and wampum. In this interview, he will discuss his art and the historical context of his work.
Melody Mackin is an educator, mom, and artist. She works at the Atowi Project. She received her master’s degree in History from the University of Vermont in May 2011. Melody has taught at several institutions an adjunct professor, such as Northern Virginia Community College and taught the History of Western Civilization and US History.
Prior to this, she was an adjunct professor at Champlain College through the EHS Division. Before that, she was an adjunct professor at Johnson State College where she taught “Native American Worldview and Spirituality,” “Native American History and Culture,” and “Abenakis and Their Neighbors.” She gives lectures on a variety of topics, including Abenaki history, women’s issues, and Abenaki political history.
She has done ground breaking research on Abenaki Spirituality and is heavily involved in the Abenaki cultural revitalization movement. She works with museums and lectures in both the K-12 and collegiate level classroom on topics relating to the Eastern Woodlands and indigenous history.
Melody is a traditional finger weaver, photographer, ribbon work, beadworker, and interprets wampum belts.
I am an Abenaki historian and I am in love with stories. The finished pieces that I create whether it is a beaded bag or a breechclout with ribbon are created with spirit. They tell my story but they also tell the story of my people. In each stitch I think about the hands that have come before me using the same techniques with the same type of materials. Most importantly, I think of the hands that will create the same artifacts in the future and honor the culture that lights the path through time that we all walk. I spend a lot of time teaching Abenaki history and culture but the artifacts that I shape are the physical manifestations of what being Abenaki means to me. They represent pride, generational love, talent, resiliency, and ultimately they tell a story of survival.
Email: [email protected]
Weaving a thread through the 7 generations, Melody Walker, TEDx Stowe
Melody Walker gives an incredibly powerful and touching insight into rebirth of the Abenaki Elnu tribe. Finding pride in each other and hope for the future, Melody weaves a beautiful talk about finding one’s place in creation and community.
Water is Life – 2022-2025
2017
Jeanne Kent was named Spozowialakws (Morningstar) by an Abenaki Elder many years ago. It means: “One who leads others out of the darkness into the light…a teacher.”
She is an enrolled citizen of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation of Vermont, and also descended from Nipissing, Montagnais, and Algonquin People from the Quebec area of Canada. Her father was French and Indian; her mother was German. Her art work contains Native American symbols and designs of the Northeast Woodland People with a focus on the Wabanaki group. Her medium is gourd art. Currently, she is working on a series of gourd designs which she hopes will provide a visual language for the woodland people.
In 2024, Jeanne was raised to the artisan level of Master Culture Bearer (MCB). To learn more about this prestigious designation, please click here.
“There is something wonderful about putting one’s hands into the soil to plant the seed, nurturing it until the blossoms form, then protecting them until they develop into natural canvases upon which to work my art, ” she said. “Working with gourds is a combination of my art and heritage bound together in a spiritual journey with Mother Earth.”
She has received both state and national awards and participated in one man shows, and group shows through out CT, NY, NH, and MA. Her work has sold internationally via her website. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and a Master in Art Education from the University of Hartford. Additional courses were taken at Johnson College, VT; Smith College, MA; Trinity College and Yale Campuses, CT, and the Woodstock School of Art, NY. She taught art in public schools for twenty years transversing levels from kindergarten to college. As teacher and artist, she has given in-services on Native crafts and history, to educators, acted as a mentor for student teachers, and offered courses at the University of Hartford Extension Service.
Morningstar serves as an interpreter at the Institute for American Indian Studies, Washington, CT, where she has also lectured and given workshops. One of her gourd rattles is part of their permanent collection. Other permanent collections containing her work are the Chimney Point Museum (VT) and the Roger Williams University (RI). Many pieces are in private collections.
“I have been drawing since I could hold a pencil,” she said. “Once I made a mark, I never stopped experimenting.”
Her work has been shown at the Millbrook Gallery and Sculpture Garden (NH), the Artworks Gallery, (CT), McDaniels-Wiley Gallery, (CT), the Gallows Book Store and Gallery at Trinity College(CT) and the Bushnell Theater Gallery (CT). She was invited to participate in an invitational group show in Boxboro (MA) at the New England Native American Institute which hosted the show: “Walking Between Two Worlds.” She currently shows her work at the Autumn Light Gallery in Avon, CT.
She recently offered lectures and workshops at the Institute for Native American Studies, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum, the University of Connecticut, the Naugatuck Community College, the ECHO Maritime Museum (VT) and numerous social groups.
Affiliations include the Institute for American Indian Studies, (CT), the American Gourd Society, the Northwest Connecticut Arts Council, and the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and the French Genealogy Library (CT).
“Although I am continuously walking between two worlds, I consider myself fortunate for having found a balance between my ancestral cultures.”
— Spozowialakws (Morningstar)
Contact
Email: [email protected]
Website: Fine Wabanaki Art by Morningstar
MUSEUMS AND PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
The artist is a recognized Abenaki Artist and enrolled Member of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation of Vermont with work housed in the following permanent collections:
Beyond the Curve 2023-2024
Deep Roots, Strong Branches 2024-2025
2021
2020
2019
2017
Alnobak: Wearing Our Heritage. Traveling Exhibit. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.
2016
Parley and Protocol: Abenaki Diplomacy Past and Present. Fort Necessity National Battlefield, Farmington, PA.
2015
Parley and Protocol: Abenaki Diplomacy Past and Present. Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. Vergennes, VT.
2014
2013
2012
Native Interpreter. Institute for American Indian Studies, Washington. CT
2011
Native Interpreter. Institute for American Indian Studies, Washington. CT
2010
2009
Article: Indigenous Arts, Cultural Survival Quarterly
2O12 Native Arts Grant. New England Foundation for the Arts.
Fred Wiseman teaches Wabanaki decorative arts, ceremonial oratory, dance and song based on historical precedent, but adapted for modern venues and audience.
His most recent (2010-) work focuses on the choreography, stagecraft, regalia and ceremonial accoutrements for dances and ceremonies associated with the agricultural and ceremonial calendar, from Winter solstice observances through spring planting ceremonies, to the various sun dances through the green corn and harvest supper observances. However, in the past, he has worked in other media and formats from “fashion shows” to ceremonial gaming, to the crafting of arms and armor.
Fred uses whatever is necessary to accomplish the goal, from set (stage) design to rock and shell carving to clothing to video and printed word.
I am a scholar and artist whose purpose is to connect the Indigenous Peoples of Vermont and their environs to their stylistic heritage by all means necessary, whether it be through film/graphic arts, the performing arts or the decorative arts. Professional goals and objectives revolve first around repatriation, the converting of written data, or archival music artifacts and imagery held by Euroamerican institutions into formats and systems of knowing usable by Indigenous people and organizations for cultural reclamation and revitalization. Second, it incorporates tradition and revelation as guideposts in this work. Third it incorporates going beyond recaptured tradition to synthesize antique materials and motifs with the contemporary, to envision an alternative, syncretic stylistic world that could answer –“what if Genocide of Northeastern Natives had been less complete?” Southwestern and Plains Native styles rooted in deep time arts tradition flourish in the West, why not allow this to happen in Indigenous Vermont?
My work is not available for sale to the Euroamerican public, it exclusively produced for tribal governments, organizations and citizens and lent or given at no cost to the recipient. The artist’s designs and productions, ranging from regalia to wampum belts and collars belong to the Pleasant Point and Indian Township Governors (ME), The Citizens of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs (ME), the Grand Chief of the Seven Nations at Akwesasne (NY), and the Chiefs and Tribal Councils of Missisquoi, Nulhegan and Koasek (VT).
However, my work has been exhibited and studied over the years at the various venues listed below.
Email: [email protected]
Deep Roots, Strong Branches 2024-2025
1994
1994-1995
1995
1996
1998- 2008
1999
2001
2001-2003 New Hampshire Historical Society Museum, various exhibits and event)
2004
2005
2007
2007-2013
2008
2010
2010
2011
2013
2014
2015
2016
1987
1990
January 1991
1994
1995
1996
1997
2000 The Abenaki and the Winooski. In L. Krawitt. The Mills at Winooski Falls. Onion River Press. Pp. 7-10 Winooski
2001
2003
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
1998 Highest ceremonial honors, Abenaki Nation at Missisquoi
2001 Great Peace of Montreal Honor Ceremony and Honor Inscription Museé de Montreal, Montreal, QC
2002 Keynote Speaker, Native American Studies in New England, University of New Hampshire
2005 Wampum Carrier, Seven Fires Alliance, Akwesasne Reserve, NY
2007 Keynote address. Vermont Alliance for Social Studies, Burlington, VT December, 7, 2007
2009 “Governor’s Award” Vermont Lake Champlain International Ceremony July 11, 2009
2010
2011 Appreciation Ceremony. Missisquoi Abenaki Swanton, VT.
2012
Vermont Abenaki Artists Association
Joseph Bruchac lives in the Adirondack Mountains of New York in the house where his grandparents raised him. An enrolled citizen of the Nulhegan Band of the Abenaki Nation, much of his work draws on his native ancestry.
He and his sons, James and Jesse, work together in projects involving Native language renewal, traditional Native skills, and environmental education at their Ndakinna Education Center (www.ndakinnacenter.org) on their 90 acre nature preserve.
Author of over 180 books for young readers and adults, his experiences include teaching in Ghana, running a college program in a maximum security prison and 40 years of teaching martial arts.A featured storyteller at numerous festivals, including the British Storytelling Festival, Clearwater, Corn Island, and the National Storytelling Festival, his Keepers of the Earth books (co-authored with Michael Caduto), which use traditional Native American stories to teach science, have over a million copies in print.
“His novel CODE TALKER, about the Navajo marines in World War II who used their language to create an unbreakable code, was named by TIME magazine as one of the 100 best books of all time for young adults.”
Address: PO Box 308, Greenfield Center, NY 12833
Email: [email protected]
Website: Website: josephbruchac.com (A list of his book awards can be viewed here.)
Water is Life – 2022-2025
Vermont Abenaki Artists Association
Jesse Bowman Bruchac is an enrolled Nulhegan Abenaki Citizen. He is a traditional storyteller, musician, and Abenaki language instructor. As one of the last fluent speakers of Western Abenaki, he works vigorously to revitalize the language. His efforts have led to the creation of a Western Abenaki website, YouTube channel, Facebook group, and a number of bilingual publications.
Following in the footsteps of his father Joseph Bruchac, Jesse has been visiting schools and universities to share Northeastern Native American traditional stories, music, language, history and culture for over two decades.
As a musician he has produced several albums of Abenaki music. These include collections of traditional songs using drum and rattle, and Native American flute music. He has opened for such notable acts as The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, and at Woodstock ’94. He won the Best Storyteller Competition at Indian Summer in Milwaukee in 1995. In 1996 he toured Europe as a member of the Abenaki Drum from the Odanak reservation in Quebec. Jesse has also acted as consultant, translator, composer, and language coach for programs on AMC, National Geographic, and PBS.
Jesse began learning stories, songs, and language as a child from his father, as well as elders his family would often visit in Vermont, Maine, the Adirondacks, New Hampshire, and Canada. He began studying the language in earnest at the age of 20 from Cecile Wawanolette in 1992. He studied with her, and dozens of other speakers at the Abenaki reservation of Odanak, Quebec for over a decade. He has continued to learn and teach the language with Cecile’s son Joseph Elie Joubert.
In the fall of 2018 he began co-teaching a course in Wabanaki languages alongside renowned Eastern Algonquin linguist Conor Quinn at the University of Southern Maine.
Email: [email protected]
Pahakwinôgweziakw! Nd’eliwizi Jesse. Nd’alnôbaôdwa, ni waji toji wlidah8zia. Akwi chigitamokw klawôganowô awskô wagaosao. Tôni kwani aiakw wskitkamigwa, koskitkamigwiba wasanmôganowi! Iolil klozwôganal kd’achwi kagakimônôl k’nijônwôk, k’witamennôl tôni adoji abiakw k’wigwômwôk, tôni adoji pabômosaakw, tôni adoji wlessinakw, ta tôni adoji wanôgiakw. Wlinanawalmezikw, wlipamkannikw, ta sôgnawôwzikadôwadikw.
Greetings! My name is Jesse. When I speak in the Abenaki language I am so happy (my mind and heart are good). Do not allow your own hearts to be troubled. For while you are in the world, you are the light of the world. Teach these words to your children, share them when you sit in your homes, when you travel about, when you lay down to sleep, and when you rise. Take good care of yourselves, travel well, and find peace within yourselves and among each other!
Vermont Abenaki Artists Association
Middlebury Language Schools