Join Mohawk filmmaker and potter Katsitsionni Fox in a traditional Haudenosaunee pipe making workshop. Haudenosaunee clay pipes are used to smoke traditional tobacco to offer gratitude or prayers. Clay pipes are sometimes decorated with human, animal or bird effigies that face the smoker of the pipe. In recent years there has been a revival of traditional Haudenosaunee pottery and pipes.
The day will begin with a screening of Fox’s 2024 short film, Tentsitewakwe. Embodying the Mohawk value of tentsitewahkwe (we pick it up again), the film follows Jessica Shenandoah who goes on a knowledge-gathering journey across all four seasons to reinvigorate the healing, land-based practices of her foremothers. Jessica reclaims knowledge that has been asleep for generations due to the destructive effects of boarding schools, forced religion and land theft.
This will be followed by a 2-hour clay pipe making workshop. After lunch, participants are also invited to join a public screening of Kanenon:we - Original Seeds. The film features three Haudenosaunee women who are stepping back into their sacred responsibility as seed keepers, honoring the work of our ancestors by regenerating and rematriating sacred seeds for future generations, and offering a glimpse into the challenges facing the world related to food security.
Participants must bring their own clay tools. Please note this is a clay making only workshop and clay pipes will not be fired. You are welcome to take yours home to fire.
About Katsitsionni Fox
Katsitsionni Fox is Bear Clan from the Mohawk Nation Territory of Akwesasne. She is a practicing artist, educator and filmmaker whose work draws inspiration from Haudenosaunee culture and current realities. Fox received an Associate in Fine Arts from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM (1989). She received a BA in Studio Arts from SUNY Potsdam (1995) and an MFA in Visual Art from Vermont College at Norwich University in Montpelier, Vermont (2000). Katsitsionni’s work has been exhibited across turtle island for the past 20 years. She is part of a movement to revitalize traditional Haudenosaunee pottery, which was not practiced for centuries. Each piece she creates comes into form with great intention and continued connection to all living things including the clay that comes from our Mother Earth. Her recent pottery work fuses traditional Haudenosaunee pottery techniques with contemporary themes and mixed media.