Description
Gold ribbon woven directly onto a frame, combining two Cherokee basketry patterns.
Materials
Ribbon, trim, frame.
Dimensions
37.25" x 43.25"
Hattie Lee Mendoza
Cherokee Nation
About the Artist
Hattie Lee Mendoza is a multi-disciplinary artist who grew up in Fowler, Kansas, and now lives in Peoria, Illinois. She has an MFA from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, and a BA in graphic design from Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas.
She is influenced by her great-grandmother and namesake’s Cherokee heritage and stories, desiring to revive and continue that legacy within her family after the generational loss of cultural connection. She spent three years living in Thailand, as well as traveling to various countries, while working with a non-profit organization on their fine art and media team. The experience gave her opportunities to interact and learn from many people groups and tribes in Asia and the Middle East. Afterward, she returned to the States and was motivated to connect to her own ancestral heritages. Her maternal grandmother’s frugal values, stemming from a depression-era childhood, are also reflected in Mendoza’s practice by including repurposed and recycled personal, family and community items, as well as thrifted and found objects.
Mendoza has been published in the #155 Midwest Issue of New American Paintings, Excellence in Fibers VII & VIII by Fiber Art Now, and Art Focus Winter Issue 2024. She has been in exhibitions in 13 states, with two 2024 solo exhibitions in Oklahoma at Oklahoma State University and Cameron University. She also had work in Expo Chicago 2024, with the Center for Native Futures gallery, coinciding with her work exhibited in their inaugural group exhibition in downtown Chicago. Awards include First Place (Contemporary Weaving) in the 2024 Eiteljorg Indian Market; First Place (Abstract Art) in the 55th Red Cloud Indian Art Show in Pine Ridge, South Dakota; Honorable Mention at D’Art Gallery’s “Spot On #3,” Denver, Colorado; First Place (Basketry) and Third Place (Miniatures) in the juried 53rd Trail of Tears Art Show; as well as First Place (Contemporary Basketry) and Merit Awards (Diverse Arts) at the 27th & 28th Annual Cherokee Homecoming Art Show in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. One of her mixed-media collages will also become a permanent display in the American studies department of the University of Notre Dame in the summer of 2024. Five of her licensed artwork images will be installed in the indoor waterpark at OKANA resort in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as public art installations.
Generations of stories and values have been layered within material objects. Re-collected from family members, friends, and her community, Hattie Lee Mendoza honors the usefulness and nostalgia of materials while collaging them into new narratives. She reinvigorates materials that might have otherwise been forgotten and tossed in the landfill as generations pass. Recollecting her great-grandmother’s pride in their Cherokee Nation heritage, Hattie uses imagery and methods abstracted or quoted from Native American culture. Sometimes this is found in Cherokee basketry patterns woven in ribbon and bias tape instead of river cane, or, more subtly, in beading milk bottle caps her grandmother saved onto a child’s Johnny-jump-up. Recollecting heritage while adding her own voice to the material’s timeline of use.
