As soon as I parked at the Aquinnah Cliffs for the 18th Native Artisan Market and Festival, the rhythmic voices of the Wampanoag Nation Singers and Dancers drew me toward the giant tent. There were three singers: the man dressed in a blue regalia shirt with flowing red and black ribbons, and the two women sporting Native American jewelry, holding a rattle and a small hand drum. In front of them, participants from the crowd held hands for an Eastern Woodlands social dance, taking small steps back and forth, first in a clockwise direction and then in the opposite direction.
Just as I arrived at the tent, I ran into Juli Vanderhoop, who filled me in on what was behind the alluring scent in the air. She was preparing bluefish with a lemon mustard aioli and black sea bass, accompanied by a Moroccan tomato salsa from her Orange Peel Bakery. It was a little early for lunch, so I meandered from one vendor to another, stopping to chat and admire their covetable wares.
NaDaizja Bolling, director of the Aquinnah Cultural Center, which hosts the festival, explained that all participants are enrolled in a federally or state-recognized tribe. Authenticity is key. “When thinking about native arts and crafts, it’s important to think about native artists, and not buy things that rip off our wisdom and are void of any ancestral or spiritual connection to the art form. Things here are for everybody to consume, and folks should feel good about purchasing from authentic native vendors.”
The festival is a joyous affair, with relations and friends gathering year after year, and others joining for the first time. One newcomer was Mashpee Wampanoag Hartman Deetz, who had an impressive display of geometric earrings and striking necklaces crafted from layers of the sacred mollusk shells. Hartman lets the classic purple and white quahog shell “tell” him what kind of jewelry to make. “I pick the shell and let it decide what it will lean into,” he explained.
It was a pleasure seeing Tiffany Vanderhoop again this year. She is perhaps best known for arresting earrings that combine the Aquinnah Wampanoag heritage of her father with that of her mother, who hails from the Haida tribe of the Gaw Git’ans, Eagle Clan, from Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. This year, she has added a clothing line featuring a striking Naaxiin (NA-heen) design of supernatural beings, bears, eagles, and clan crests, inspired by the Northwest Coast totem poles, as well as robes, blankets, and ceremonial objects.
I also caught up with Jennifer Staples, who has added a new item to her inventory. For some time she has been crafting exquisite pots from the sacred, multicolored clay of the Aquinnah Cliffs, which only tribal members are allowed to harvest: “I was inspired by the trimmings from when I shaped the bowls on the wheel. The pieces that were coming off were swirled with different colors.” Jennifer forms the trimmings into solid bricks, slicing off pieces that she encapsulates in resin into one-of-a-kind pendants.
Aquinnah Wampanoag jeweler Martha Vanderhoop designs distinctive silver pendants and earrings. The Vineyard inspires her richly patterned silver pieces, with evocative names like “Sun Through Waves,” “Aquinnah Meadow,” and “Sperm Whale Lost in Seaweed.” Vanderhoop says, “I love translating the seaweed, dunes, and animal life of the Island into my jewelry.” She works with an environmentally friendly clay made from recycled silver. She shapes and carves each piece by hand. After firing it in a kiln, the clay becomes 99.9 percent pure solid silver, which she hand-polishes and tumbles to boost its strength and beauty. Martha owns Hatmarcha Gifts, on the Cliffs near the original Gay Head Lighthouse, the building where her father was born. In 1921, his father was the first and only Wampanoag principal keeper of the lighthouse.
Mashpee Wampanoag Rob DeGaetano was excited to attend the festival for the first time. “Coming is being able to spread your medicine,” he said about his artwork. Among his many items were paintings with symbolic meaning. Rob depicts native peoples in traditional dress. One shows a figure with back turned, sitting contemplatively on the Aquinnah Cliffs: “I like doing it from the back because it is us walking our pathway.” Another is a simple portrait where the head, depicted as a medicine wheel, is divided into four different color quadrants — red, black, yellow, and white. “The medicine wheel has deep meaning, the four different corners of the earth, and the four different skin complexions.” Rob divides his time between being a professional fighter and an artist. “They work together. When I’m fighting, I’m training, and it’s hard and difficult. When I’m doing the art, it’s soft. It’s like my calm medicine.”
Aquinnah Wampanoag Nyssa Duarte showcased an impressive variety of natural oils, tinctures, and herbal remedies. The business complements her role as a registered nurse with the tribe, having left her nursing career in large-city hospitals in Boston. “I saw major gaps in the lack of holistic care. So I leaned more into herbalism and learning traditional medicine.” Among her locally foraged and homegrown items were wild sumac, which is beneficial for the immune system. “It tastes delicious, and you can make lemonade with it.” There were wild beach roses, which smelled divine — the essence of summer. “It’s an energetic medicine for heart-opening. And there’s spruce tip syrup, which is high in vitamin C.”
Weaver Brittney Peauwe Wunnepog Walley of the Hassanamisco Nipmuc Band crafts baskets, bags, and sashes. She uses hand-twining, a type of weaving that has been employed by native peoples regionally for time immemorial, and notes, “I work with traditional known patterns and also geometrics.” While the art is handed down from one generation to the next, Brittney is also excited by ancient visual records. “There are pottery shards that are decorated by having something woven pressed into them. You can see the inverse of these woven items that once existed.”
I finally tore myself away from all that was for sale to watch adults and children alike making cornhusk dolls with Aquinnah Wampanoag Bangii-Kai Bellecourt, a docent at the Aquinnah Cultural Center. Kristina Hook, an Aquinnah Wampanoag elder, taught Bangii-Kai the craft some years ago. After taking a class with Linda Coombs and Bollings on traditional regalia making, he started creating accurate replicas for the dolls. The female was dressed in a rich, dark brown, long skirt and an over-the-shoulder mantle, while the male doll sported a burnt umber breechcloth.
Before leaving, I visited Berta Giles Welch, board president of the Aquinnah Cultural Center. She has been selling her stunning wampum works, which she embellishes with bits of turquoise and incandescent shells. Attending her 18th festival, I asked what keeps her coming back. “I think it’s important to show and to share our culture and to remind people that we are still here. This is our land, so it feels good.”
Nurtured by a sense of community before I headed off to lunch, I tracked down Jennifer to ask what keeps her coming back year after year. She smiled: “It’s being with everyone, and all the other Wampanoags. It’s a special day. It’s an honor to be part of this group.”
