Kelly Church facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kelly Church
Church in 2023
Born	Kelly Jean Church 1967 (age 57–58) Michigan, U.S.
Nationality	Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan, American
Education	Family, self-taught AFA Institute of American Indian Arts BFA University of Michigan
Known for	Basket making, painting, birchbark biting
Movement	Woodlands style
Awards	NEA National Heritage Fellowship (2018), Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Award, Southwestern Association for Indian Arts Fellowship

Kelly Jean Church is a talented artist from Michigan. She is a member of the Match-e-benash-she-wish Potawatomi, Odawa, and Ojibwe tribes. Kelly is famous for making beautiful baskets from black ash trees. She also creates art by biting designs into birchbark and paints in a special style called Woodlands. She shares her knowledge as an educator.

About Kelly Church

Kelly Church was born in 1967. She is a fifth-generation basket maker, meaning her family has been making baskets for a very long time! She grew up in Michigan. Her father taught her how to make black ash baskets. Her grandmother taught her the Odawa language. Kelly has also taught her own daughter, Cherish Parrish, how to make baskets. Kelly studied art at the Institute of American Indian Studies and the University of Michigan.

Kelly's Artwork

Making Baskets

Kelly and her family go into swampy areas in Michigan to find and cut down black ash trees. Getting the wood ready for weaving takes much longer than the weaving itself. First, she removes the bark from the log. Then, she splits the wood into very thin strips called splints. These splints are dyed and soaked before she starts weaving.

Kelly makes many different kinds of baskets. Some are useful, like fishing baskets or market baskets. Others are special, like rectangular wedding baskets or fun strawberry baskets. She also creates unique baskets with her own designs. She uses materials like copper, photos, and even plastic window blinds. These special baskets are a warning about what might happen if black ash trees disappear. Her work shows how worried she is about the emerald ash borer. This insect is expected to kill almost all ash trees in the United States.

Birchbark Biting Art

Kelly is also skilled at birchbark biting. This is an old art form from the Great Lakes region. Artists use their eyeteeth to bite designs into a folded piece of young paper birch bark. The bitten areas turn dark brown, which stands out against the light bark. Kelly creates both abstract designs and pictures of animals. You might see turtles or dragonflies in her art. These pieces often tell stories and can also be used as patterns for other crafts.

Woodlands Style Painting

Kelly is inspired by the Woodlands style of painting. This style is also known as Legend or Medicine painting. It was made famous by artist Norval Morrisseau. Kelly paints figures from her tribes' oral histories, like Nanabozho. She also paints Michigan wildlife, such as sandhill cranes. She usually uses bright acrylic paints on canvas. The contrasting colors make her paintings look very vibrant.

Awards and Projects

Church's black ash baby basket with sweetgrass turtle charm

Kelly Church has won many awards for her basketry. These include the Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Award. She also won the Southwestern Association for Indian Arts Fellowship in 2008. In 2006 and 2008, she helped organize meetings to find ways to save the black ash tree. These meetings focused on fighting the emerald ash borer. The National Museum of the American Indian helped fund these important projects. Kelly also received the National Museum of the American Indian Artist Leadership Program Award in 2010. She won another Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Award in 2011.

In 2016, Kelly won the best basketry award at the Santa Fe Indian Market. The Smithsonian Institution gave her a Native Scholars Fellowship in 2016. She has also been an artist in residence at the Eiteljorg Museum. She received the National Artist Fellowship from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation.

The National Endowment for the Arts honored Kelly Church in 2018. She was named one of their National Heritage Fellows. This award recognized her teaching and mentoring work. It noted that she teaches more than just art. She also discusses science, forest care, pest control, traditional language, and family history.

Her artwork, Sustaining Traditions–Digital Memories, is now part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It was acquired for the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary.

Exhibitions

• 7 Artists, 7 Teachings (2009), Mitchell Museum of the American Indian. Kelly was both an artist and a curator for this show.
• Before and After the Horizon: Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes (2014), National Museum of the American Indian, New York City.
• Gifts of Art (2015), Stamps School of Art and Design, University of Michigan. This exhibition featured her work alongside fellow artist Nancy Bulkley.
• Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists (2019–21), shown at several museums. These included the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Renwick Gallery.
• An Interwoven Legacy: The Black Ash Basketry of Kelly Church and Cherish Parrish (2021–22), Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, MI.

See also

• List of Indigenous artists of the Americas
• Visual arts of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas