Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians | Now Open
Photo by: John E Rodgers/Ogahpah Communications
Experience the diversity of Indigenous cultures across the country in a new exhibit series created in close partnership with Indigenous communities. Each exhibit case is shaped by Indigenous community curators who select the objects on display and their accompanying stories.
In the first rotation, Keeping Traditions Alive, learn about the Quapaw Nation, an Indigenous community living and thriving today in Oklahoma. Community curators Betty Gaedtke or Te-mi-zhi-ka (Little Buffalo Woman), an artist specializing in Quapaw pottery, and Carrie Vee Wilson, NAGPRA Director for the Tribe, share the rich cultural traditions of the Quapaw Nation in their own words. The curators discuss the history of Quapaw displacement from Arkansas to Oklahoma and how traditions tie the community together today.
Ceremonies, games, and food are at the heart of how the Quapaw people stay connected to their culture in our ever-changing world. In Keeping Traditions Alive visitors may take an up-close look at traditional pottery and clothing made by Gaedtke, shake a rattle can and imagine the sound of many rattles shaking during a stomp dance, and learn about staple and special foods like corn gravy, grape dumplings, and fry bread.
The museum is honored to care for and share these special objects and stories.
Photos by: John E Rodgers/Ogahpah Communications
About the Community Curators in Their Own Words
Carrie Wilson
My name is Carrie Vee Wilson. I’m a member of the Quapaw tribe. I have served as Director of the Quapaw Cultural Resources Office and I’m currently the NAGPRA representative for the tribe. I was born in 1954 to Edna McKibben and artist Charles Banks Wilson.
Betty Gaedtke
My name is Betty Gaedtke or Te-mi-zhi-ka (Little Buffalo Woman). I am an enrolled member of the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma (Quapaw Nation) and part of the Buffalo clan. My passion is creating pottery in keeping with our culture. In 2012 I learned how to make our pottery with the styles and decorations of the past. My pots are not antique but are authentic Quapaw pottery and all of them are signed and smoked.
