Belle Deacon
Belle Deacon | |
|---|---|
| Born | Belle Young September 23, 1904 Anvik, Alaska |
| Died | 1995 |
| Occupation(s) | Elder, basketmaker, language, folklore expert |
| Honours | National Heritage Fellowship (1992) |
Belle Young Gochenauer Deacon (September 23, 1904 – 1995) was an American basketmaker and language and folklore expert. As an Alaska Native elder, she held and shared knowledge of the language and traditions of the Athabascan people. She received the National Heritage Fellowship in 1992.
Early life
[edit]Young was born in an Athabascan community in Anvik, Alaska, the daughter of John Young and Ellen Young.[1] Her grandmother Marcia was a basketmaker, and Deacon learned the art in childhood.[2]
Career
[edit]Deacon gathered, prepared and dyed a range of natural materials for weaving, and sold baskets and furs while she was a widow with young children. Her baskets were included in a Contemporary Native American Arts show that toured in Alaska in 1971.[3] In 1984, she was an artist at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C.[1] In 1992, she received the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.[2][4]
She told folktales in Deg Xinag to the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and nine of those tales was published, with translations and illustrations, as Engithidong Xugixudhoy: Their stories of long ago (1987).[5] Her stories are valued not only for their narrative content,[6][7] but as examples of Athabascan pedagogy and rhetoric.[8][9]
Personal life
[edit]Belle married twice. Her first husband was Henry Oliver Gochenauer, a white trader from Pennsylvania. They had three children together; he died before 1940. Her second husband was fur trapper John Deacon. They had at least four more children together in the 1940s, and lived in Grayling, Alaska. One of her daughters, Daisy Demientieff, became a noted basketmaker after her example.[2][10][11] John Deacon died in 1984, and Belle Deacon died in 1995.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Congdon, Kristin G.; Hallmark, Kara Kelley (2012). American Folk Art: A Regional Reference. ABC-CLIO. pp. 584–586. ISBN 978-0-313-34936-2.
- ^ a b c "Belle Deacon". National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
- ^ "Two Nome artists capture honors in UA art exhibit". Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. 1971-04-21. p. 7. Retrieved 2022-08-01 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Alaskan Named Master Weaver". Daily Sitka Sentinel. 1992-07-06. p. 3. Retrieved 2022-08-01 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Belle Deacon Texts". depts.washington.edu. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
- ^ Ruppert, James; Bernet, John W. (2001-01-01). Our Voices: Native Stories of Alaska and the Yukon. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-8984-0.
- ^ Ruppert, James (1995). "A Bright Light Ahead of Us". In Morrow, Phyllis; Schneider, William (eds.). A Bright Light Ahead of Us: Belle Deaconʹs Stories in English and Deg Hitʹan. Writing, Hearing, and Remembering Oral Traditions from Alasak and the Yukon. University Press of Colorado. pp. 123–136. doi:10.2307/j.ctt46nrcm.14. ISBN 978-0-87421-199-3. JSTOR j.ctt46nrcm.14. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Leonard, Beth Ginondidoy (2013). "Indigenous Pedagogies in the Oral Traditions of Belle Deacon". Journal of American Indian Education. 52 (3): 3–20. ISSN 0021-8731. JSTOR 43608704.
- ^ Huntington, Orville H.; Watson, Annette (2012). "Interdisciplinarity, Native Resilience, and How the Riddles Can Teach Wildlife Law in an Era of Rapid Climate Change". Wíčazo Ša Review. 27 (2): 49–73. doi:10.5749/wicazosareview.27.2.0049. ISSN 0749-6427. JSTOR 10.5749/wicazosareview.27.2.0049. S2CID 159188726.
- ^ Spack, Kristin (2009-06-05). "New film profiles master Alaska Native artist and her culture". Alaska Public Media. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
- ^ Kaplan, Diane. "Remembering Daisy Demientieff: A treasure of cultural knowledge" Rasmuson Foundation (June 21, 2018).
External links
[edit]- Video of Belle Deacon telling a story, "Dead Girl Talking", with transcript and annotation, from a DVD produced by the University of Washington
- A photograph of two baskets made by Belle Deacon, from the Alaska Contemporary Art Bank
- A photograph of a basket or bowl made by Belle Deacon, from the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution
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