Jeri Ah-be-hill facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jeri Ah-be-hill
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| Born |
Geraldine Fuller
September 23, 1933 |
| Died | March 11, 2015 (aged 81) |
| Nationality | Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, American |
| Other names | Jeri Greeves, Jeri Fuller Ahbe-hill |
| Occupation | businesswoman, Native American apparel collector, docent and curator |
| Years active | 1965–2015 |
| Children | Teri Greeves Keri Ataumbi |
Jeri Ah-be-hill (born September 23, 1933 – died March 11, 2015) was a Kiowa expert in fashion and art. She owned a special store called a trading post. This store was on the Wind River Indian Reservation for over 20 years.
Later, she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. There, she became the person in charge of the yearly Native American Clothing Contest. This contest is part of the Santa Fe Indian Market. Jeri also worked at two museums. She was a guide, called a docent, at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. Many people saw her as an expert on Native American fashion. She traveled all over the country to teach others about tribal clothing.
Early Life and Family
Jeri Ah-be-hill was born Geraldine Fuller on September 23, 1933. Her hometown was Apache, Oklahoma. Her mother, Sarah, was from the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma. Her father, Earl, was from the Comanche Nation.
Jeri was also the great-niece of a famous Kiowa artist named Silver Horn. She went to school at Riverside Indian School in Anadarko. In 1951, she started modeling Native American clothing. This was for a fashion show in Peoria, Illinois. From the age of 21, she only wore clothes inspired by American Indian styles.
In the early 1950s, she took classes at the University of Oklahoma. Then she moved to St. Louis, Missouri. In 1954, she married an artist named Richard Greeves. They moved to Fort Washakie, Wyoming. Jeri opened a studio there on the Wind River Indian Reservation. They had two daughters, Teri (born 1970) and Keri (born 1971). Both of her daughters grew up to be well-known Native American artists.
A Career in Native American Art and Fashion
In 1965, Jeri Fuller opened her own gallery and trading post. This was a place to buy and sell American Indian arts and crafts. She also started collecting Native American clothing. It was not common for an American Indian woman to own a business back then. But Jeri had always wanted to help Native artists share their work.
Her store sold many items with beadwork from nearby Arapaho and Shoshone artists. She also sold many other kinds of art and crafts from different Native American groups. She started putting on fashion shows to display various tribal clothing styles. She ran her trading post until 1988. After that, she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In Santa Fe, Jeri volunteered at the Indigenous Language Institute. She also worked as a docent at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian. In 1990, she officially changed her name to Jeri Ah-be-hill. She then started working at Arrowsmith's Gallery. There, she organized fashion shows all year long.
Jeri didn't see herself as an artist. Instead, she felt she had learned a lot from buying art for many years. She wanted to teach others about Native American dance clothes and historical outfits. In 1991, she joined the board of directors for the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA). She then began to organize the fashion show and contest for the Santa Fe Indian Market.
Ah-be-hill always explained that Native fashions are different from regular clothes. She said they were not "costumes" like for dress-up games. Instead, they were important cultural clothing. They were often handmade in styles specific to each tribe. Over the years she led the fashion contest, she saw more modern designs. These new designs were judged in their own special group. After 17 years, Ah-be-hill stopped being the main director of the Santa Fe Indian Market fashion show in 2008. But she still helped as an advisor for the event.
Jeri Ah-be-hill also wrote an article. It was called "As Long As I Can Thread a Needle: Southern Plains Beadworkers and Their Art." This article was in Native Peoples magazine in 1992.
When she wasn't busy with the Indian Market, Ah-be-hill traveled a lot. She gave talks about Native fashions across the United States and even in other countries. She also helped organize special events. For example, she curated a traveling exhibit for the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in 1995. This exhibit was about her great-uncle, Silver Horn. It included some pieces from her own collection of his work. In 2010, she represented Native Americans at the Caen Festival in Normandy, France. In 2011, she received the Povi’ka Award from the Santa Fe Indian Market. This award honored her leadership and support for Native American artists and communities.
Later Years and Legacy
Jeri Ah-be-hill passed away on March 11, 2015, in Santa Fe. From 2014 to 2016, a special exhibit honored Native American women artists. It showed some of Jeri Ah-be-hill's collection. It also featured works by Margarete Bagshaw and Josephine Myers-Wapp. These pieces were displayed at the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (MIAC) in Santa Fe. In 2016, MIAC honored these three women for Women's History Month.
