Dream Messenger
Artist
Rhonda Holy Bear
(American, Cheyenne River Lakota, born 1959)
Date1997
Mediumwood, acrylic paint, hide, German nickel silver, leather, glass, cotton, wig hair, porcupine quills, seashells, chicken feathers
Dimensions23 × 7 × 4 1/4 in. (58.4 × 17.8 × 10.8 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineGift of Richard Hertz and Doris Meyer, 2025
Object number2026.2.2
DescriptionSculpture of an Indigenous figure with two long braids and traditional dress featuring a print of stars and birds.eMuseum Notes
Artist and story-keeper Rhonda Holy Bear engages in the Indigenous tradition of dollmaking. For her, creating art is a meditative process through which she often hears the words of her grandmother, who was also a keeper of stories. The highly detailed figures she makes, using painstaking micro-beading and other meticulous and highly detailed processes, act as teaching tools and cross-generational connections with her ancestors.
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