Cherish Parrish

Cherish Parrish
Born1989 (age 34–35)[1]
NationalityPotawatomi-Odawa (American)
Known forBasket making, birchbark biting

Cherish Nebeshanze Parrish (born 1989) is a black ash basket maker and birchbark biter.[2] She is a member of the Match-e-be-nash-she-wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians of Michigan and of Odawa descent.[3]

Parrish is a sixth generation black ash basket weaver, having learned the craft from her mother, artist Kelly Church.[3]

Parrish was one of the recipients of the Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in 2006.[4] She also participated in the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival as a "Next Generation Weaver".[5] Parrish won best of show in the 2012 Eiteljorg Museum Indian Market, representing the first time a basket had taken the top honor in that show.[6]

Using the pliable bark of black ash trees she harvests from the swamps of the Michigan wetlands, Parrish weaves tightly woven baskets.[7][8] While she continues the tradition of free form weaving, her work was transformed with the introductions of weaving around a mold.[9] She also creates birchbark bitings in the tradition of the Anishinaabe of Michigan.[3]

Parrish honors women by creating baskets that mimic the shape of women's bodies.[10] Her work The Next Generation—The Carriers of Culture, featured in the 2019 exhibition Hearts of our People, is a black ash basket that replicates the curves of a pregnant woman; the work was described by artist Jonathon Keats as embodying "the unity of utility and beauty by relating basket and belly, while simultaneously suggesting that the future of a people is borne through heritage as much as biology."[11]

  1. ^ Yohe, Jill Ahlberg; Greeves, Teri, eds. (2019). Hearts of our people : Native women artists. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Minneapolis Institute of Art in association with the University of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295745794.
  2. ^ "Carriers of Culture: Living Native Basket Traditions". Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. 2006. Archived from the original on 13 April 2009. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  3. ^ a b c "Cherish Parrish". The Art of Kelly Church and Cherish Parrish. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  4. ^ Public Programs Section of the American Folklore Society (Spring 2006). "2006 Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeships". AFS Public Programs Bulletin. 23. Department of Folk Studies and Anthropology at Western Kentucky University: 51.
  5. ^ "Cherish Nebeshanze Parrish (Gun Lake Band of Potawatomi), Hopkins, Michigan". Carriers of Culture: Living Native Basket Traditions. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  6. ^ "Highlights from the 20th anniversary Indian Market & Festival". Eiteljorg Museum. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  7. ^ Thackara, Tess (31 May 2019). "The Hand of Native American Women, Visible at Last". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  8. ^ Niemi, Paul (14 March 2014). "Weaving and Protecting a History: A Conversation with Basket-Maker Kelly Church". National Museum of the American Indian blog. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  9. ^ ""Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists" Audio (Stop 4 - Cherish Parrish)". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
  10. ^ Graham, Lester (1 September 2017). "Artisans of Michigan: Anishinaabe black ash baskets". Michigan Radio NPR. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
  11. ^ Keats, Jonathon (10 June 2019). "A Spectacular Exhibit Of Indigenous Women Artists Counters 500 Years Of Exploitation And Ignorance". Forbes. Retrieved 8 March 2020.