Between Borders folk art exhibit aims to bridge divide between communities

Folk art plays a large role in rural Idaho’s history. It is a form of utilitarian art that is typically passed on and preserved through families over the generations, but as modernization and population growth in Idaho changes rural communities, folk art is becoming harder to preserve.

“I’m just trying to get the recognition out there, to teach people about the rural arts and the everyday rural arts in Idaho,” said Steven Hatcher, state folklorist for Idaho and traditional arts director with the Idaho Commission on the Arts. “Taking it across the border out of the mountains and into larger urban areas is part of the vision.”

The “Between Borders” art exhibit uses folk art to connect rural North Idaho communities, specifically from the Coeur d’Alenes, to more urban areas.

Hatcher created “Between Borders” with the help of Idaho Public Folklorist Taylor Burby and librarian and Chrysalis Art Gallery exhibit coordinator Dallas Jade Graves.

Following two years of interviewing and cataloging folk artists around North Idaho throughout the Interstate 90 corridor, Hatcher, Graves and Burby saw a need to showcase and raise awareness for rural Idaho’s folk arts.

“We wanted to let more urban folks in the area know what kind of amazing work is being done and what kind of traditional cultures are being represented in Idaho,” Hatcher said.

“Between Borders” showcases many forms of folk art, from realistically painted duck decoys to leather braiding and knot tying for horse reins, to carved horse saddles and authentic Coeur d’Alene Tribe cradleboards. Each piece of art has a story, and a purpose that goes beyond decoration.

“They’re made to be used and they’re also beautiful to look at,” Hatcher said. “That’s kind of what folk art, folk life, is all about … It’s the art of the everyday person.”

Burby is a contracted public folklorist for Idaho that works out of Missoula, and it’s her job to “drive around the Panhandle to identify the folk artists of northern Idaho,” she said.

“My job basically requires me to do some investigative work,” Burby said. “Drive around, talk to different folks in the community and see who they know who they can point me to in terms of traditional artists.”

She goes to farmers markets, gift shops, community events and homes to find and interview potential folk artists, through the interview process she decides if the artwork can truly be defined as folk art.

“In Northern Idaho, it’s been very, very hard to find artists who are representative of how folk and traditional arts have been thought of historically,” Burby said, “There are a lot of people who move in who are retirees from somewhere who took up a hobby when they retired, and now that’s their thing. Folk arts are not hobbies.”

Burby must differentiate between the hobbyist and the true folk artists.

“They need to be practicing a tradition that’s representative of a Northern Idaho community that they are a part of,” Burby said. “Their work can be based regionally, occupationally, ethnically … and those crafts must represent the identity, values, beliefs and lifestyles of the people in that community.”

Just as the artists must meet the folk-art criteria, Burby and the team must pass a test of their own.

“They’re all just very generous with their time, with their skills, their knowledge, and of course the things that they make, but it’s very delicate,” Burby said. “Sometimes, what they make is all they have on hand to sell, so they might not want to loan it to an exhibit that’s going to keep money out of their pocket for six months.”

Burby, Hatcher and Graves must create a relationship of trust with the artists to convince them their art will be safe and used to make a difference.

“You couldn’t work with a better group of people and the arts world,” Burby said. “They welcome you into their home. They are just so kind. They’re so excited to talk about their work and their community, and they’re so kind to offer up their work, so we can take it around the state and hopefully raise awareness of what they’re doing.”

Once the folk artists agree to loan their work to the “Between Borders” art exhibit, Graves takes over the coordinating events for the artwork and curating the exhibit.

“I find places for the art like galleries, museums and other venues and then I organize the art in a visually pleasing and also educationally meaningful way,” Graves said.

Once people understand the purpose of Between Borders – to pass on and preserve the knowledge of North Idaho’s history through folk art – Graves rarely has trouble securing the venue she’s after.

“People get really excited about what we’re doing,” Graves said. “Getting this exposure is super important to people, not just to recognize folk art, but to preserve an understanding of it … We definitely filled the calendar pretty quickly with events.”

Between Borders is about preserving the knowledge of these folk artists and their art in the wake of modernization, even as the act of passing on traditions has become increasingly more difficult.

“If the skill is not passed on, then that’s the end of the line, the lineage ends. So, by exposing it and having that seed planted in people’s minds, someone else could pick up the craft and those traditions could potentially be carried on longer,” Graves said. “That would be a beautiful consequence of the exhibit, but at the least, we want to preserve folk art and make space for it.”

Passing on traditions is the main goal of at least one of the artists featured in the Between Borders art exhibit. Philomena Nomee, a Coeur d’Alene Tribe member, crafted the cradleboards on display.

More than 50 years ago, Nomee, then-20, made the smallest cradleboard on display for her first-born son, using whatever beads she had on hand at the time. She learned this skill from her mother and her grandmother and continues to pass this knowledge down through her family and her tribe by hosting classes.

“She’s got 10 grandchildren, and she’s got 15 great-grandchildren, and they’ve all used that first board. It’s an heirloom,” said Bobbie White, Nomee’s daughter.

The other two cradleboards were made for White’s son and daughter, and each one is adorned with detailed beadwork that represents their name or important aspects of their family history.

At first, Nomee didn’t want to loan her cradleboards to the exhibit, but her daughter encouraged her.

“I think she’s a phenomenal artist and she’s a great teacher,” White said. “And so, when this opportunity came, I really felt like I wanted this to help more tribal artists to be recognized for their art.”

But to Nomee and White, this hasn’t been the case.

“Even today being part of the Idaho Arts Commission, tribal artists are always overlooked,” White said, “and so I’m hoping that by encouraging my mom and really pushing her to put herself out there a little bit, it would help and kind of open the doors for other tribal artists to be able to put their stuff out there.”

Nomee is the only tribal artist in the Between Borders art exhibit. Other tribal artists have been hesitant to loan art to galleries, and Nomee has experienced disrespect at certain galleries.

“People are so afraid to put themselves out there,” White said. “Tribal artists go where they know that they can sell their artwork and they’ll feel appreciated for their service and for their work, and that’s really, really lacking.”

Without Native art, “Between Borders” exhibit wouldn’t exhibit a full representation of Idaho’s folk-art history.

“We would not have felt good putting this exhibit together if it weren’t for the representation we got from the Coeur d’Alene Tribe,” Hatcher said. “It’s important to get their representation out there, and to show the kind of art, the kind of practice, the kind of traditions that persist even beyond all the change that is happening around them.”

It’s important to Nomee and White to represent their community, but it’s not easy to loan out priceless family heirlooms.

“You want your things to be seen, you want these things to happen for our people and encourage others to learn and to pick it up and to carry on traditions … but it’s kind of a hard thing to do,” Nomee said.

Although, in Nomee’s opinion, the cons have outweighed the pros at times during her experience of loaning her cradleboards, White believes she and her mother have a good relationship with Hatcher.

“We’re very fortunate that my mom has a relationship with Steve and that they’re friends,” White said. “I feel like that helps a little.”

But Nomee and White hope this will teach people about their tribe and give confidence to other tribal artists to put their artwork out there.

“I hope this educates people that we still use cradleboards today,” White said, “and that we have many tribal artists who are phenomenal and very artistic.”

Dave Miller, son of Murray, Idaho, ballad singer and gold miner Dale Miller also helped his parent get his work into the “Between Borders” exhibit. Dale Miller’s folk music, an immaterial form of folk art, has taken on a life of its own since son Dave and his family began compiling his father’s albums and records.

“My father had a career writing songs about the local area and he recorded a lot of records and albums,” Dave Miller said. “He had a career playing music and he specialized in songs about the area and the history.”

Dave Miller felt that it was important to loan his father’s music to the “Between Borders” exhibit to keep this part of his father’s life alive after all of Dale Miller’s fans have passed on.

“It was written so long ago that a lot of his fans are gone,” Dave Miller said. “That’s why the people involved with Between Borders are doing it. They’re doing this to preserve the history of the area because it’s disappearing so fast.”

Dave Miller has personally carried on his father’s tradition and hopes this exhibit will help people remember his father.

“I also sing songs about the area. And I’m like the local historian up here in Murray, Idaho,” Dave Miller said. “We’ve spent this whole summer doing things in honor of my dad and this exhibit has been a really nice part of it.”

The “Between Borders” exhibit was previously at Art Spirit Gallery in Coeur d’Alene before coming to Chrysalis Art Gallery (owned by Denny Carman) on the South Hill, where it will stay through Sept. 4, before moving on to a gallery in Sandpoint.

“The art that I have in my gallery, to be honest, I didn’t know a lot of it was out there and I think it’s bringing light to a whole other group of artists and crafters, which we need,” Carman said.

Carman said people can get wrapped up in their own area and forget to look outside of the art around them.

“We need to have our eyes opened up. Steven brought these items from rural Idaho so everybody could see that there’s other amazing work being done in other areas. I think it’s really important for people to come and see them,” Carman said.

The folk art that Hatcher has loaned Carman is very different from the artwork that usually adorns Chrysalis walls.

“People expect to see paintings on the walls, but they did not expect to see what I have here now,” Carman said. “I have a saddle here, I have cradleboards, some beautiful quilts here. I did not expect to have them in my gallery, and it’s so exciting to have items people have not seen before or will ever see again.”

This experience has been rewarding for Carman.

“I’m just a small guy in this whole picture of what great work they are doing, and I’m very honored to be asked to do this,” Carman said.

Hatcher, Graves and Burby have worked hard to connect people from very different places and build bridges between communities during times of great disconnect.

“We’re doing this at a time in the Panhandle that is very important. Places like Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene are just on fire with developing,” Hatcher said. “So, it’s important to reiterate and remind people of cultures that have been there long before a lot of these newcomers.”

Hatcher, Graves and Burby plan to continue to show everyone they won’t let folk arts disappear, because it’s everywhere and it always will be.

“These traditions, these practices have been around a long time and they’re going to continue,” Hatcher said. “It’s easy to ignore the beauty that surrounds every day, and I think that’s very much represented in all these pieces in the exhibit, whether it’s the fully tooled saddle or the Coeur d’Alene beadwork or the teeny tiny hand tied flies. That’s the stuff that matters … I hope people see that and are reminded of the everyday beauty we are surrounded by.”