Yvonne Walker Keshick Explained

Yvonne Walker Keshick
Native Name:	Binaakwiikwe
Birth Date:	19 October 1946
Birth Place:	Charlevoix, Michigan, U.S.
Nationality:	Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, American
Style:	porcupine quill boxes and jewelry

Yvonne Walker Keshick (born October 19, 1946, as Binaakwiikwe, or Falling Leaves Woman^[1]) is an Anishinaabe quillwork artist and basket maker.

Life

Keshick was born in 1946 in Charlevoix, Michigan,^[2] as an enrolled citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.^[3] She descended from many generations of Odawa/Ojibwa quillworkers. Her great-aunt Anna Odei'min is one of the best-known WPA Arts and Crafts Project artists.

Keshick became an apprentice of Susan Shagonaby (daughter of Mary Ann Kiogima) in 1969. Shagonaby taught Keshick "from scratch", using cleaned quills fresh off a rotting porcupine. Shagonaby later became the director of the Chief Andrew J. Blackbird House. Keshick began quilling full-time in the 1980s.

She resides in Petoskey, Michigan.^[4]

Work

Keshick is a basket-maker and quillworker. She uses porcupine quills, sometimes supplemented by other natural materials such as birch bark and sweetgrass in the decorative articles she creates. It can take a year for her to acquire the quills she needs for a particular work of art. Her designs incorporate traditional elements from her culture as well as animal and plant designs passed down through the generations. She does not dye the quills, relying on subtle differences in their color to provide shadowing effects.She is known for innovating a method of laying the quills to create dynamic textures that give life to her compositions and the animals and birds that she features.

Keshick taught her children, who continue to make quill art. On teaching her art, Keshick has said,^[5]

Her work is featured in the collection of the Michigan State University Museum.^[6]

Awards and recognition

Keshick received a 1992 Michigan Heritage Award, and was a 2014 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellow.

In 2006, she was a featured participant in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival's Carriers of Culture Native Weaving Traditions program,^[7] and in 2015, she spoke at the Great Lakes Folk Festival.^[8]

Exhibits

• Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists, (2019), Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.^[9]
• Anishnaabek Art: Gift of the Great Lakes, (2016), Harbor Springs History Museum, Harbor Springs, Michigan^[10]

Further reading

• Book: Hosmer, Brian . Tribal Worlds: Critical Studies in American Indian Nation Building . Larry . Nesper . SUNY Press . 2013.
• Burl Bowls and Birchbark Baskets: Decolonizing Indigenous Material Culture in the Native Northeast . Allyson . LaForge . April 2016 . . November 9, 2019.
• Book: Yohe, Jill Ahlberg . Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists . Teri . Greeves . 2019 . . 9780295745794 . 2018967294 . 70, 130–133.

Notes and References

1. Book: Yohe, Jill Ahlberg. Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists. Greeves. Teri. Minneapolis Institute of Art in association with the University of Washington Press. 2019. 9780295745794. 70, 130–133. 2018967294.
2. Web site: Yvonne Walker Keshick . Masters of Traditional Arts . November 9, 2019 . November 9, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191109182334/http://www.mastersoftraditionalarts.org/artists/395 . live .
3. Book: Before and after the Horizon: Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes . David W. Penney . Gerald McMaster . The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian . 2013.
4. Web site: Quilling artist teaches craft . Jordan Spence . August 21, 2014 . . November 9, 2019 . November 9, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191109183813/https://www.petoskeynews.com/graphic/arts/quilling-artist-teaches-craft/article_35f63130-294a-11e4-bd6d-001a4bcf6878.html . live .
5. Book: Marsha . MacDowell . Janice . Reed . Sisters of the Great Lakes: Art of American Indian Women . East Lansing . Michigan State University Museum . 1995 . 51.
6. Web site: Birchbark and Sweetgrass Quill Box . Michigan State University Museum . 1994 . November 9, 2019 . November 9, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191109182018/http://projects.leadr.msu.edu/indigenouswomen/exhibits/show/four-views-of-a-quill-box/item/26 . live .
7. Web site: Yvonne Walker Keshick: Odawa quillworker . . n.d. . www.arts.gov . National Endowment for the Arts . February 7, 2021 . February 14, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210214093132/https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/yvonne-walker-keshick . live .
8. Web site: Great Lakes Folk Festival . August 9, 2015 . Yvonne Walker Keshick has been awarded a National Heritage Fellowship for her exquisite (porcupine) quill work boxes. Come and hear more about her history and this fascinating Native craft. . November 9, 2019 . November 9, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191109192454/https://greatlakesfolkfestival2015.sched.com/event/3t9T/meet-the-artists-yvonne-walker-keshick . live .
9. Book: Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists. Seattle : University of Washington Press. 2019.
10. Web site: Historical Society Hosts Quill Artist Yvonne Walker-Keshick on August 4th . West Michigan Tourist Association . July 22, 2016 . June 11, 2020 . June 11, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200611190709/https://www.wmta.org/2016/07/22/historical-society-hosts-quill-artist-yvonne-walker-keshick-august-4th/ . live .