Beat Nation and Maria Hupfield

One of my favorite artists is Maria Hupfield. I first came to know of Hupfield's work when my friend Amber-Dawn Bear Robe lassoed Hupfield into submitting some art for Red Ink Magazine back in 2005.

Hupfield is of Anishnaabe (Ojibway) heritage, and a member of Wasauksing First Nation, in Ontario. She works with photography, sculpture, installation and performance art. Last August, a group of us were participants in Vestige Vagabond - a public art performance by Hupfield and Charlene Vickers held during the annual Santa Fe Indian Market (left).

White Women and Headdresses

I'm on a mission to find out when white women started wearing Plains Indian headdresses as a part of 'fashion'.

One of my friends, Ross Chaney, found this gem:

A unusual vaudeville act - USA, 1940s
"Wearing her authentic Native American headdress, Enid Mutterbucket would leap up and down on two mini trampolines, ululating while she performed various movements of an arcane nature. She was accompanied by Signor Prosciutto on his accordion, who played his own arrangements of Lakota folk songs interspersed with popular Glen Miller hits of the day. (Well, I did tell you it was an "unusual" act!)"