Katrina Mitten
Katrina Mitten | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1962 Huntington, Indiana |
| Known for | textile art, beadwork |
| Website | katrinamitten |
Katrina Mitten (born 1962, Huntington, Indiana)[1] is a Native American artist. She is enrolled in the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, while also living in Indiana all her life.[2]
Mitten is beadwork artist, whose embroidery style of beadwork has earned her numerous awards for over 50 years and has been featured in major metropolitan museums.[3][4]
Biography
[edit]Mitten is a descendant of one of the five Miami families who were allowed to stay after the establishment of the Indian Removal Act by Andrew Jackson. This act was passed to remove Native people from their land and relocate west, past the Mississippi River.
At the age of twelve, Mitten learned beading from her grandmother Josephine.[5] Josephine influenced a large portion of Mitten's works, including her 1950s handbag, which she has stated represents her family heritage. Mitten made this handbag collaborating with her granddaughter Saiyer Miller and teaching her using the same methods as her grandmother.
Mitten also learned more about her tribe by visiting museums and studying her families' heirlooms.[6] She is active on the powwow circuit.
She has created utilitarian works, such as The Cradle Board, as well as necklaces, bracelets, and beaded handbags. Other influences in her art include the geometric designs found in ribbonwork and the floral patterns depicted throughout the Great Lakes tribal beadwork.[7][8] She incorporates personal and family stories into her art pieces and uses her art as a means of story telling.[8]
In 2016 Mitten collaborated with Native American artists Katy Strass and Angela Ellsworth to create a painting of the states on a fiberglass statue of a bison.[9]
Two of her pieces, MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women) and Ten Original Clans of the Myaamia, were acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum as part of the Renwick Gallery's 50th Anniversary Campaign.[1][10][11][12]
Select artworks
[edit]- Cradle Board[4][13]
- 1950's Handbag[8]
- MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women)[1][11]
- Ten Original Clans of the Myaamia[1][12]
Exhibitions
[edit]- Native Art Market at the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C. (2014)[14]
- Myaamia Heritage Museum & Archive (2018)
- Santa Fe Indian Market[15]
Collections
[edit]Mitten's artwork is held in the permanent collections of:
- Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art[4]
- Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian[16]
- Smithsonian American Art Museum[1]
- Wylie House Museum at Indiana University: Bloomington[2]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e "Katrina Mitten". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- ^ a b "Katrina Mitten · Call and Response: Creative Interpretations of the Wylie House · Wylie House Exhibits". collections.libraries.indiana.edu. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
- ^ "Katrina Mitten". Katrina Mitten. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
- ^ a b c "Katrina Mitten". Eiteljorg Education Hub. Retrieved 2025-05-29.
- ^ Brackney, Susan (23 December 2019). "The Maker: Beaded Embroidered bags". Indianapolis Monthly.
- ^ "Eitelijorg's Indian Market and Festival draws artists from across U.S. and Canada". 21 June 2018.
- ^ Edge, Sami (18 August 2017). "Native Art Market 2014: Katrina Mitten". Santa Fe New Mexican.
- ^ a b c Indiana folk arts: 200 years of tradition and innovation. Kay, Jon., Traditional Arts Indiana., William Hammond Mathers Museum (Bloomington, Ind.). [Indiana]. 2016. ISBN 978-0-692-72355-5. OCLC 960881753.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link) - ^ Sandlin, Rebecca. "Three Local Lending Talents to State's 'Bison-Tennial'". The Huntington Country TAB.
- ^ Savig, Mary; Atkinson, Nora; Montiel, Anya (2022). This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World. Washington, DC: Smithsonian American Art Museum. pp. 228–238. ISBN 9781913875268.
- ^ a b "MMIW". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- ^ a b "Ten Original Clans of the Myaamia". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
- ^ "Native American Cradleboards".
- ^ "Native Art Market 2014: Katrina Mitten". Smithsonian.
- ^ Edge, Sami (18 August 2017). "A masterpiece 760 hours in the making".
- ^ "Catfish bag". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 2020-03-18.
External links
[edit]- Native Daughter: Katrina Mitten video from Journey Indiana
- Artists from Indiana
- Miami people
- 1962 births
- Living people
- Native American women artists
- 20th-century American artists
- 20th-century American women artists
- 21st-century American artists
- 21st-century American women artists
- 20th-century Native American artists
- 21st-century Native American artists
- 20th-century Native American women
- 21st-century Native American women
- Native American people from Indiana
- Native American beadworkers
- American beadworkers
- Women beadworkers