November is Native American Heritage Month, and the Clark County Historical Museum is spotlighting Native American artisans at the Native People’s Market on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Entrance to the market is free, but museum entrance is exempt for that day.

Sammuel Hawkins, director of outreach and public programs, said the market aligns with the museum’s mission to provide local communities with a place to share their culture.

“We hope this can be the catalyst for us to explore partnerships with other cultural groups in the Vancouver area and give them voice and agency to take over the space here and share their culture with the community,” said Hawkins.

The entire first floor of the museum will be given over to 14 local Native American artisan vendors selling a variety of handcrafted items, from beaded jewelry, fabric bags and paintings to crafted leather objects and dream catchers, Hawkins said. Also on sale at the market will be the artworks of famous painter Adrian Larvie from the Oglala Lakota tribe of South Dakota and the flute music of award-winning Akademia Music Hall of Fame member Sherrie Davis Morningstar. For those who missed the market, some items may still be available for sale in the museum’s gift shop, Hawkins said.

Christina Felix, a Clark County artisan who worked with the museum to organize the market, said the vendors at the upcoming market are members of at least 10 different tribes whose ancestral lands span the country. Felix is ​​a member of the Opata Nations, whose territory is currently located in the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. sells under that name quiquilee’s Creations The Portland Native Market usually features about 30 vendors, showcasing the work of Native American artists at various events throughout the year.

She said Felix has been beading for about 15 years and makes purses and wallets out of fabric. Crafting is a way for her to connect with her culture as well as share it. Felix said it was exciting to see his designs “all over the world” as a visual sign of the continuity of his cultural heritage.

“I try to utilize native fabric types like Pendleton wools or Eighth Generation wools (a Seattle company that sells Native American-designed blankets),” Felix said. “I use patterns familiar to many different tribes. I try to include tribes from all over the United States.

Indigenous markets are important for vendors’ livelihoods and a way to share their culture. For some vendors, their handmade products are their only source of income, Felix said. Felix also suggested that shoppers should bring cash because not all merchants are configured to accept cards.

Lorrie Adams, owner Halloween Designsit also participates in the Clark County Historical Museum market. While her current focus is on beaded jewelry, she said she has “always been artsy” and also works with fibers and dyes. In the beginning, nothing he made was for sale. Instead its pieces were offered as gifts during tribal ceremonies. Later, Adams’ sister became a vendor at the Portland Native Market and encouraged Adams to sell his business there. Adams joined the Portland market in 2022, taking the business name from his Wenatchi heritage and his birthday on Oct. 31.

Adams, a member of the Confederated Colville Tribes with additional ties to the Yakama Nation, is from Seattle but moved to Vancouver in 1985 as a teenager. He attended Mountain View High School and Clark College. During this time, she said, she was unaware of any local Indigenous cultural activities and “didn’t have people to talk to or events to go to.” That’s why it’s so important to “bring a familiar face to the Native presence in Clark County,” he said.

“My uncles, especially my mother’s brother, taught us that you have to talk and teach about things, otherwise we disappear,” Adams said.

Adams said his pieces grow from shapes or ideas that occur to him. Then “my brain sees what kind of pieces I can put together to create that image.” It contains elements that may not mean anything to the buyer or user, but are meaningful to them. For example, the Confederate Coville Tribes will work in groups of 12 knots or beads to represent the 12 member tribes. He also likes to blend traditional and contemporary elements to give his work a “modern twist.”

When selling at markets where vendors and attendees are mostly Native American, Adams said he doesn’t need to explain his ingredients or motifs. Now that he’s selling to a broader group of buyers, he’s trying to be “a little more intentional” and try to offer some historical or cultural context; he points out, for example, that white dentalium shells were used as currency and were also used to decorate clothing (traditional or sacred clothing). worn during tribal ceremonies).

Hawkins said events like the upcoming market are an important way to attract new visitors to the museum.

“We can connect with the community and show what we do here while partnering with communities that need to tell their stories in their own unique ways,” Hawkins said. “That’s the whole point of the museum: to share the stories of Clark County.”