Native arts, crafts show marks half-century

By Kate Prengaman, Yakima Herald-Republic

TOPPENISH, Wash. — Lydia Johnson wanted to support Indian artists and craftsmen to keep tribal traditions alive, so she helped to organize a small local show.

The Spilyay-Mi Native American Arts and Crafts club celebrates its 50th annual event this Saturday and Sunday at the Yakama Nation Cultural Center in Toppenish.

The event has grown and changed since its origins at the Wapato Presbyterian Church, said Johnson, a 93-year-old retired public health nurse from Wapato and member of the Umatilla tribe.

“The reason we keep doing it is because it has evolved to kind of a community function now,” Johnson said. “We’ve done different things, Indian fashion shows, best-dressed baby contests … but the objective is still to encourage Indian artists.”

The event has had many homes around the Yakima Valley and welcomed many Indian artists from around the region, but interest has waned over the years and now the club that organizes the event only has about a dozen active members, according to current president Joyce Manship.

“It’s been harder and harder to keep active members; we’re looking for younger members to keep arts tradition alive,” Manship said.

Manship, 63, is a retired nurse living in Ephrata who got involved as a vendor at first, invited by her brother, who teaches art at Grandview High School. She does bead and leather work in part to honor her Tlingit heritage.

“I’m pretty much self-taught, but my mother and my grandmothers all did traditional artwork,” Manship said. “As a young person, I used to see this really cool Native artwork and I couldn’t afford it, so I learned how to make it.”

There will be lots of bead work for sale and on display this weekend, along with silver jewelry, paintings and wood carvings. Best-dressed baby contests and afternoon performances by local dancers and the Seattle-based Haida Lass dance troupe will also be offered.

The dances play an important role in preserving the arts and crafts, Johnson said. The dancers need moccasins and beaded clothing to perform, which supports the artisans.

Supporting traditions, Johnson said, is even more important now than when she founded Spilyay-Mi in 1964.

To attract more artists, the club decided to open the show to nontribal members. It’s good to have new faces, because some longtime participants have passed away or are in fading health, she added.

Even the spelling of the club’s name has changed slightly over the years, but not the meaning.

The name was suggested at the first organizing meeting by a man who never came back, Johnson said, but the name Spilyay-Mi, meaning “of coyote,” stuck.

“Coyote is in a lot of Indian legends and in a lot of cases he’s not a very good guy,” Johnson said, laughing. “But we named it according to the good things he did. In this case, he was credited with helping the people make baskets and things like that.”