We are pleased to have new work from Anita Fields.  These are the first new pieces since 2020, due to the pandemic and her museum obligations.  This is a large clay dress by Anita Fields.  The piece is slab built and painted with textured designs on the surface.  Anita said of this piece:

“This dress is telling our story. The top half has a beautiful poem I wrote written onto the clay.  The opposite side has the same writing alogn with a circle in gold.  The circle represents our heart, our center, our culture.  How, when we dress, we connect to our past through the traditional clothing we wear.  The dress represents the female.  The dresses convey my attitudes toward the strength of women and how native peoples show remarkable resourcefulness and adaptability toward their environment. The clothing Indian women created shows great pride, dignity, and hope in a culture facing insurmountable odds.”  Anita Fields

It is a striking piece with complex designs and colorations, including the gold leaf areas.   It is signed on the bottom, “Anita Fields”  

“I have a choice…There is a time for each of us to step up and be apart of the culture.”  Anita recognizes there is a powerful connection that is made for her through cultural teachings.  [Her] hand formed ceramic works led to references found in the Osage genesis narratives.”  Anita Fields, Fluent Generations

Textures into the clay.  Starkness of black and white.

“Anita was influenced by traditional Osage ribbon work, clothing, and blankets. She also studied the objects and ceremonial dress of other tribes. The personal and emotional elements in these textile designs led Anita to use them symbolically in clay, translating the personality of these vestments into her work. About one of her recent series, Native American Dresses, which are coil-and slab-built installations, Anita says: “”  

Mocassions.

Corn Woman. She has more traditional clothing.  The hands are worn for ceremony and it’s an ancient design.  It’s a photo transfer on linen.  Corn for us and important for women.  It’s asking for a nice harvest and a good home for my children.  She is wearing Osage mocassions.