Cherish Parrish

Cherish Nebeshanze Parrish (born 1989) is a black ash basket maker and birchbark biter.[2] She is a member of the Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan and of Odawa descent.[3]

Cherish Parrish
Born1989 (age 31–32)[1]
NationalityPotawatomi-Odawa (American)
Known forBasket making, birchbark biting

Parrish is a sixth generation black ash basket weaver, having learned the craft from her mother, artist Kelly Church.[3]

Parrish was one of the recipients of the Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 2006.[4] She also participated in the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival as a "Next Generation Weaver".[5] Parrish won best of show in the 2012 Eiteljorg Museum Indian Market, representing the first time a basket had taken the top honor in that show.[6]

Using the pliable bark of black ash trees she harvests from the swamps of the Michigan wetlands, Parrish weaves tightly woven baskets.[7][8] While she continues the tradition of free form weaving, her work was transformed with the introductions of weaving around a mold.[9] She also creates birchbark bitings in the tradition of the Anishinaabe of Michigan.[3]

Parrish honors women by creating baskets that mimic the shape of women's bodies.[10] Her work The Next Generation—The Carriers of Culture, featured in the 2019 exhibition Hearts of our People, is a black ash basket that replicates the curves of a pregnant woman; the work was described by artist Jonathon Keats as embodying "the unity of utility and beauty by relating basket and belly, while simultaneously suggesting that the future of a people is borne through heritage as much as biology."[11]

Exhibitions
  • Hearts of our People: Native Women Artists, (2019), Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.[1]                                                                                                            

References
  1. Yohe, Jill Ahlberg; Greeves, Teri, eds. (2019). Hearts of our people : Native women artists. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Minneapolis Institute of Art in association with the University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295745794.
  2. "Carriers of Culture: Living Native Basket Traditions". Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. 2006. Archived from the original on 13 April 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  3. "Cherish Parrish". The Art of Kelly Church and Cherish Parrish. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  4. Public Programs Section of the American Folklore Society (Spring 2006). "2006 Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeships". AFS Public Programs Bulletin. Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at Western Kentucky University. 23: 51.
  5. "Cherish Nebeshanze Parrish (Gun Lake Band of Potawatomi), Hopkins, Michigan". Carriers of Culture: Living Native Basket Traditions. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  6. "Highlights from the 20th anniversary Indian Market & Festival". Eiteljorg Museum. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  7. Thackara, Tess (31 May 2019). "The Hand of Native American Women, Visible at Last". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  8. Niemi, Paul (14 March 2014). "Weaving and Protecting a History: A Conversation with Basket-Maker Kelly Church". National Museum of the American Indian blog. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  9. ""Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists" Audio (Stop 4 - Cherish Parrish)". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  10. Graham, Lester (1 September 2017). "Artisans of Michigan: Anishinaabe black ash baskets". Michigan Radio NPR. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  11. Keats, Jonathon (10 June 2019). "A Spectacular Exhibit Of Indigenous Women Artists Counters 500 Years Of Exploitation And Ignorance". Forbes. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
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