Ojibway Artist Wanesia Misquadace Launches "Essence of the Lake Collection" at Heard Museum

Next week is the Heard Museum's Annual Indian Fair and Market in Phoenix, Arizona.  It will commence Saturday, March 5 and run through Sunday, March 6. Award-winning Ojibway artist Wanesia Misquadace is known for her birch bark bitings--this past year at SWAIA Indian Market, she placed 1st in "Diverse Arts" for her birch bark canister, made of birch bark, silver and precious stones, as well as Lake Superior pebble stones. She also had the double honor of placing 1st in the "Bracelet" division for her piece entitled Lady Slipper.  Not everyone can do that so it was a great thrill!  Now, her work is in great demand by high-tiered Native American art collectors.

This year, at the Heard, Wanesia Misquadace will be launching the "Essence of the Lake Collection," a new jewelry line with the discriminating, fashion-conscious, fashion-forward collector in mind. This isn't your typical Native American jewelry collection. It transcends what most people think of when they hear Native American jewelry. While her life in the Southwest has to some degree informed the work, the "Essence of the Lake Collection" is truly a reflection of her indigenous cultural roots as well as contemporary artistic influences. These one-of-a-kind pieces will fuse the traditional concept of birch bark bitings and cutouts with representational floral designs embellished with precious and semi-precious stones, including diamonds, acquamarine, yellow topaz, garnets and more.

Wanesia will be sharing a booth with her amazing Dine (Navajo) jewelry designer life partner Frtiz Casuse located at #I-07.  Come by on Saturday and Sunday to see what all the buzz is about. Waneisa is the only female from a Northern United States tribe creating this work, and she is excited to share it with the public.  For more information, visit her blog at http://wanesiamisquadace.blogspot.com/.


Watch a video of Wanesia from my "Road to Indian Market 2010" series HERE:

The Road to Indian Market 2010: The Bark and Bite of Ojibwe Artist Wanesia Misquadace

I first met birch bark biting artist and jewelry deisgner Wanesia Misquadace at the Native Treasures show in Santa Fe this past spring. In spite of the fact that we had never met,  a couple of months before, she had added me as a Facebook friend.  So, we felt like we already knew each other when we finally did meet face-to-face. The mother of little Mossimo, whom she shares with her husband Diné jewelry designer Fritz Casuse (who I will profile later this week on “The Road to Indian Market 2010”), Misquadace also balances a career as wife and artist and does it all well! As a matter of fact, Misquadace is one of only about ten artists in North America that does birch bark biting, which involves peeling the thin layers off of the birch tree, and then biting the bark with the eyetooth to create beautiful designs ranging from turtles to flowers or hummingbirds.  Wanesia has been doing SWAIA Indian Market for the last five years, and her birch biting techniques have led to incorporating them into gorgeous fine jewelry as well.

Lucky for me, I recently caught Wanesia attending art openings in downtown Santa Fe, and she talked to me about what the road to Indian Market is like for her. If you are in Santa Fe for the 2010 Indian Market on August 21 and 22, come by her booth (#SF519) and say hello. In the meantime, get to know Wanesia by watching her video interview HERE: