Collective Spirit Podcast

S2E21: Renee Dillard (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians)

• First Peoples Fund • Season 2 • Episode 21

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2022 Community Spirit Award Honoree Renee Dillards' (Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians) rhythmic storytelling reminds us that the art of weaving is a thread that connects us to the Earth and each other. As a natural fiber weaver, Renee shares an intimate portrayal of her life's tapestry, woven with reverence for Mother Earth. Her narrative is a healing balm, rekindling a connection to heritage that transcends the atrocities of boarding school traumas. Through her eloquent words, we witness the revival of ancestral arts and the vital role women play in this cultural resurgence. As Renee's hands shape traditional cattail mats, she stitches together a community dedicated to their forebears' sustainable and prayerful practices, a poignant reminder of the resilience and continuity of Indigenous peoples.

Speaker 1:

This is a way of life. It's not a hobby. I live a weaver's life, and so that means I live by the seasons, I live by the weather, and I live on a different time frame. I'm following a different circle and not a clock.

Speaker 2:

The Collectiv Spirit Podcast. The Collectiv Spirit moves each of us to stand up and make a difference, to pass on ancestral knowledge and simply extend a hand of generosity. The Collectiv Spirit Podcast features Native artists and culture bearers who discuss the power of Indigenous art and culture.

Speaker 1:

I am Thunderclan. My name my taxpayer name is Renee Dillard. My native name means Light All Around and I come from the land of the crooked tree, otherwise known as Little Travers Bay, bands of Wadawa Indians in Michigan. My art would best be explained as sharing natural fiber weaving Weaver. There we go.

Speaker 1:

It all started with my folks. I was a young girl my mom was finger weaving at the time, which is yarn bouts, and my other sister did beadwork and my other sister did ribbon applique and I'd be in the youngest. They couldn't find what I was good at. I spilled the beads and cut the leather wrong and I didn't find anything that I was real good at until my parents gave gifts to the couple down the way in our community, paul and Vivian Jackson and they came over and showed us how to make baskets. Now I'm weaving my own fiber that I make out of plants and bags and mats and all kinds of things. So it's been a wonderful gift of discovery.

Speaker 1:

What I try to introduce to other people as I share my art is the relationship that I ended up fostering through my weaving with our mother, the earth, and so because I had to go to her so often to find the things that I needed. We ended up with a much closer relationship than I believe I ever would have had before, and since that realization came when I was relatively young, I have been actively trying to share that with other tribal people as they're coming to heal from the horrendous effects of the boarding school trauma, and many of our people are looking for a way to reconnect with their ancestors, and the easiest way for me to help people is to show what I have done by rekindling and keeping my relationship with Shkukmakwa, who we call our earth mother. I decided lately, in my older years, that the best thing to do is spend my time helping other tribal people rediscover their place in the world through decolonized art that our ancestors also took part in, and I believe that the motions that we make with our body as we recreate things that our ancestors have done creates that emotion of oneness with them, and in fact I believe that they come and visit me through my heart. Maybe I'll have an epiphany that never came before. I don't accredit my own brain for that. I just figure I'm rediscovering something that someone on the other side is helping me with, and maybe some people think that's naive or foolish, but I know how I feel and I would like to share that with other people because it's given me a tremendous sense of confidence and purpose.

Speaker 1:

There's very few people that are doing that kind of pre-contact art, like mats to put in our sacred spaces and get the canopies and tarps off our lodges and use the old-time material that is sustainable. I walk through this type of life carefully and prayerfully. I want to make sure that I'm doing things in a sustainable manner, because we only have this one place and this one time that I'm aware of, and so I want to do the best I can, and I'm also doing it prayerfully, because I'm asking for help all along the way. This is a way of life. It's not a hobby. I live a weaver's life, and so that means I live by the seasons, I live by the weather and I live on a different time frame. I'm following a different circle and not a clock Music Although I've been recognized, it hasn't been until actually since First Peoples Fund major recognition that the tribes, at least here in Michigan, are coming in droves to come learn and to share. So I found a beautiful way to incorporate our Anishinaabe, the people, the good man, lord that's what we call ourselves here the three fires people and they're coming forward and I'm teaching them how to make bone needles and supplying the rib bones from elk and showing them how to make cordage, and they help us make cattail mats for our lodge and everybody goes home with information and it's through the women that this work is happening. But I have been teaching the same thing for 40 years and it hasn't been until just now that all of those seeds seem to have ripened and the women in particular are coming forward. Not to dismiss the men there, they're coming as well, but I believe the women are coming forward to embrace our rightful place, which is to take care of our family and community, and we do that by making a home and the mats and the leavings. So the challenge, I guess, was waiting, waiting for someone to come and help, where I really feel like this information will be passed to our grandchildren that have yet to be born, even after I'm worm dirt. So I feel like that's been a big accomplishment. But that's only happened, also in part, thanks to First Peoples Fund publicity. It's been like I was just hiding over here in Potoske, michigan, and now everybody seems to know my name.

Speaker 1:

Those cattail mats, they're huge. They're 15 feet long, about seven foot tall. We ended up making them out of invasive narrowleaf cattail. We normally have broadleaf cattail but we've been able to adjust because broadleaf just isn't available up here, so we're learning about it. But two years ago that project started, the year after First Peoples Fund, people came like there were like dozens of people in the water helping me harvest and then coming back and helping me.

Speaker 1:

It was just notable and I'm like well, let's work this out so that we can make our sacred spaces decolonized. These cat-tail mats we can put up and take down the last for years and years and we don't do it anymore because it was never meant to be a singular activity and now we have, you know, 20, 30 people. This went on for five weeks this year. It started the first of August and it went until after the first week in September. I know of no other lodge being used that is completely covered with cat-tails and that's our goal. So what happened is the Polkagans are starting their cat-tail mats and our community will travel to them and help them and then, when Bay Mills gets their group going, we'll go and help them when they're cat-tail sowing. I'm hoping that it will continue and we can show how our people were united.

Speaker 2:

The Collective Spirit podcast is produced by First Peoples Fund, whose mission is to honor and support Indigenous artists and culture bearers through grant-making initiatives, culturally-rooted programming, and training and mentorship. Learn more at FirstPeoplesFundorg.