Vermont Humanities Council Grant Supports Vermont Abenaki Artists Panel Discussions in Area Libraries
Native American Heritage month offers special opportunities to connect with Abenaki
artists at area libraries in a series of panel discussions titled “Wearing Our Heritage,” organized by the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association in partnership with Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, funded in part by a grant from the Vermont Humanities Council.
A panel discussion at the Pierson Library in Shelburne, VT will be presented on Tuesday, November 7 at 6:30pm. Panelists include Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Abenaki Tribe and Nulhegan citizens Aaron York and Carol McGranaghan. Melody Walker Brook will serve as moderator. Brook and McGranaghan currently serve on the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs. McGranaghan is a jewelry maker and also has created a line of wild jellies using traditional herbs. Stevens is a diplomat and storyteller who also makes jewelry and regalia. York is an internationally acclaimed birch bark canoe maker whose beaded stethoscope is featured in the traveling exhibit “Alnobak: Wearing Our Heritage.”
On Wednesday, November 8, at 7 pm, Vermont Abenaki Artists Association Director Vera Longtoe Sheehan will moderate a panel discussion in Brattleboro at Brooks Memorial Library with Sagamo (Chief) Roger Longtoe Sheehan of the Elnu Abenaki Tribe and Grandmother Willow Greene. The panelists will discuss the meaning that contemporary Abenaki artists and tribal members assign to the designs and materials used in their garments, accessories, and regalia in their own lives and as expressions of community and tribal identity.
Two additional panels will be presented in 2018, at the Charlotte Library on March 8, and at the Fletcher Free Library in Burlington on May 7. These special programs, like the annual Abenaki Heritage Weekend held in June at Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, are developed by Abenaki culture bearers to deepen public understanding of how this vibrant regional culture continues into the 21st century.
About LCMM
Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (LCMM) provides opportunities for people of all ages to discover and reflect on the history and archaeology of the Champlain Valley through educational programs, exhibitions, and publications. The Museum’s exhibit buildings and on-water programs are open daily from late May through mid-October. LCMM works with community partners to support the statewide movement toward students’ self-directed learning, as well as free-choice learning for all ages. Find more information at www.lcmm.org or 802 475-2022.
About Vermont Abenaki Artists Association (VAAA)
The VAAA mission is to promote Vermont’s Indigenous arts and artists, to provide an organized central place to share creative ideas and professional development as entrepreneurs, and to have a method for the public to find and engage Abenaki artists. For more information about VAAA, please visit http://abenakiart.org or follow us on Facebook or Twitter. For information about the Library Panel Discussion series: http://abenakiart.org/native_american_heritage_month
For more information contact:
Kevin Unrath, Director, Pierson Library
kunrath@shelburnevt.org
802 985-5124
Eloise
Beil, Director of Collections and Exhibits, Lake Champlain Maritime Museum
eloiseb@lcmm.org
802 475-2022 ext. 107
