Mapping Familiar Territories Exhibit

We are all set to get a tour of the exhibit Mapping Familiar Territories on Sat, March 14 from 11am-12pm at the JSMA. Museum staff will give a short tour of the full exhibit at 11am, followed by a talk with Brenda Mallory about her piece, Old Homeplace, based on her Granny's Dawes allotment in the Cooweescoowee District of Cherokee Nation. More info here.

Syllabary Bingo

This month, we’ll play Cherokee Syllabary Bingo and share good food and company. We’ll have a mix of syllabary bingo and animal bingo cards. You don’t have to speak Cherokee - we’ll have plenty of guides and help if you’re new to the syllabary.

Holiday Party at Great Spirit

10:30–10:40 – Welcome & smudge
10:40–11:10 – Announcements & Potluck
11:10–11:30 – Cultural story sharing
11:30–12:00 – Craft or activity
12:00–12:45 – Music, social time and community walk
12:45–1:00 – Wrap-up and thank yous

First Foods Cooking Class

Details coming soon!

Playing Winter Rabbit

MHC Member Jonni Ketcher is one of the designers of Winter Rabbit, a semi-cooperative, hidden worker placement game for 2-6 players. This game features Cherokee art, design, cultural elements, and a unique gameplay experience. Jonni will tell us about the inspiration and design of the game, then lead small groups through playing it together. More info about Winter Rabbit. 

Game followed by a potluck lunch.

Hiking - She Who Watches
(makeup from June)

Columbia Hills State Park

Meeting location TBD

Neighborhood Bike Ride

Chief’s Picnic

Location: River Road Park in Salem, OR

Stickball at Pier Park

We hope to see you at our July meeting on Saturday, July 12th at 10:30am-1:30pm. Join us for a game of stickball and a picnic lunch under the shade of the Doug fir trees at Pier Park in North Portland. Beau and Samantha Sanders are making the trek out from Oklahoma to teach Mt. Hood Cherokees how to play the game. Beau is a cousin of Rebecca Goss, a longtime Mt. Hood Cherokee, and we are excited to learn from relatives who play stickball all the time. In addition to stickball and picnic, we also invite citizens to sign up for a drawing for gift cards, spa passes,and other great giveaway items! 

Location: Pier Park, Picnic Area #A. 9100 N Bruce Ave, Portland 97203. Bark at the Bruce Ave parking lot. (See flier below for details).   

Walking in Balance with Abraham Bearpaw

Abraham Bearpaw is an author, motivational speaker and creator of the Walking In Balance wellness program. Mr. Bearpaw is also a cultural activist and shares traditional teachings so that others can live fulfilled lives of wellness. In recovery for over 10 years, Abraham Bearpaw is a living example of the effectiveness of the Walking In Balance program. Through the Walking In Balance program, he has helped many individuals and families in their recovery and wellness journeys.  

Twine Bag Workshop with Betty Frogg & Barbara Adair

Field trip to the Hallie Ford Museum for Brenda Mallory’s exhibit. From the website:

Brenda Mallory: The North Star Changes features the sculptures and large-scale installations of Brenda Mallory, a nationally recognized Portland mixed-media artist. Organized by the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, the exhibition features 36 objects on loan from public and private collections throughout the western United States, including several from the Hallie Ford Museum of Art. The title of the exhibition is based on the idea that, while the North Star or Polaris is usually thought of as permanent, in fact it has changed its location over the course of thousands of years. “The idea of change has always been in my work,” Mallory has said.

Mallory describes her art process as bricolage—the construction or creation of an object from a diverse range of available materials. One of her processes is to dip flannel in beeswax and shape the cloth into undulating, biomorphic forms, many of which suggest living organisms. Once she has created the individual parts, she assembles them together with nuts and bolts and other crude hardware to create the final sculpture. In other mixed-media works, she cuts apart and re-forms linen fire hoses into wall hangings, slices open spools of industrial thread to form fields of color, and works with reclaimed drive belts of various types to create linear drawings. “The idea that an object has more than one use, more than one life in it, appeals to me,” she has commented.

Brenda Mallory (Cherokee Nation) was born in Claremore, Oklahoma in 1955. As a young girl, she remembers watching her father’s crafting techniques of binding objects with baling wire, which she credits as an influence in her art. She attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where she earned a BA degree in linguistics and English; when she moved to Portland, she continued her education at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, where she earned her BFA degree in fine art. Her work is included in numerous public and private collections throughout the United States, and she is the recipient of an Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship as well as fellowships from the Native Arts and Culture Foundation and The Ford Family Foundation.

Syllabary Bingo

Great Spirit

10:30am - 12pm

Join us for our holiday party on December 14, 2024 from 10:30 am to 1:00 pm at Great Spirit, 3917 NE Shaver, Portland, OR.

Mt. Hood Cherokees host Sarah (Seli) Stewart’s Cornhusk Doll Workshop at Great Spirit:
3917 NE Shaver, Portland, OR

Supplies provided but limited to 25 participants.

RSVP to mhccouncil@gmail.com to attend. Wado!

Flat Basket Weaving with Cherokee National Treasure Barbara Adair & Culture Keeper Betty Frogg

You must RSVP to mhccouncil@gmail.com! Your RSVP is not confirmed until you receive a reply. We'll send an update when the slots are filled and then create a wait list. We will reach out to the wait list before September 7 if any spaces open up

MHC Picnic & Stickball

Wilshire Park
NE 33rd Avenue and Skidmore Street
Portland, OR 97211

Photo from Boston Public Library

Cherokee Art History with America Meredith
Time and location TBD

She Who Watches Hike
Please email email us to RSVP and for time and location.

We'll be joined by Dr. Christopher B. Teuton to talk about his recently published book, Cherokee Earth Dwellers: Stories and Teachings of the Natural World, which he co-authored with Hastings Shade. Dr. Teuton is professor and chair of the American Indian Studies department at the University of Washington. 

If you're interested, we wanted to encourage folks to read the book ahead of Dr. Teuton's visit. You can buy it here: https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295750187/cherokee-earth-dwellers/. And his publisher kindly shared a PDF of the book for our members for free (attached). Dr. Teuton will join us on Saturday, October 14 from 10:30am-12:00pm, again at Great Spirit. 

We hope to see you at Great Spirit to hear from Professor Kirby Brown, who will be coming up from Eugene to join us in person. Please bring food to share and we'll gather for a meal together too.

In the membership announcement email we attached a chapter from Kirby's book, Stoking the Fire: Nationhood in Cherokee Writing, about Lynn Riggs. Lynn Riggs grew up in Claremore, Oklahoma and wrote the play Green Grow the Lilacs, which was adapted into the musical Oklahoma! A copy of Riggs' play, Cherokee Night, was also attached for your reading pleasure. 

*We will enjoy a variety of activities, including crafts and games.

*We will share a potluck meal, so please bring a dish to share. We can keep things warm or cold while we are enjoying games and crafts. Drinks, plates and tableware will be provided.

*Please bring your own pair of scissors and some toilet paper tubes for one of the crafts.

* This will be fun for all ages, so please bring your children and youth.

Party planner extraordinaire Patricia Wilson needs help decorating the day before the party (Friday, December 9th). Please email her at reggaedown@aol.com if you can lend a hand.