Jeri Redcorn
{{Short description|Native American Oklahoman pottery artist}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = Jeri Redcorn
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Jereldine Elliot
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1939|11|23|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Albuquerque, New Mexico
| death_date =
| death_place =
| citizenship = Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, United States
| known_for = ceramics
| training =
| movement = Caddo pottery
| notable_works =
| patrons =
| awards =
| elected =
| website = {{URL|http://redcornpottery.com}}
}}
File:Jeraldine redcorn caddo pot 2005.jpg.]]
Jereldine "Jeri" Redcorn (born November 23, 1939) is an Oklahoman artist who single-handedly revived traditional Caddo pottery.[http://www.visitcaddomounds.com/index.aspx?page=899 "Jeri Redcorn, Traditional Caddo Potter."] Caddo Mounds State Historic Side. 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
Background
Jereldine Redcorn was born on 23 November 1939 at the Indian Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her father was Caddo, and her mother was Potawatomi.Duty, Shannon Shaw. [http://www.osagenews.org/article/jeri-red-corn%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98intertwining-scrolls%E2%80%99-picked-grace-oval-office "Jeri Red Corn’s ‘Intertwining Scrolls’ picked to grace Oval Office."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130620105004/http://osagenews.org/article/jeri-red-corn%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%98intertwining-scrolls%E2%80%99-picked-grace-oval-office |date=2013-06-20 }} 19 Oct 2009. Retrieved 29 July 2012. Redcorn grew up in Colony, Oklahoma, living on the allotment lands of her Caddo grandmother, Francis Elliot.[http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/tejas/clay/reviving.html "Reviving a Lost Tradition."] Texas Beyond History. Retrieved 28 July 2012. Her tribal name is Bah-ha Nutte, meaning "River Woman." She graduated from Colony High School, then earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas and her master's degree from the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Revival
In 1991, Redcorn and fellow members of the Caddo Cultural Club visited the Museum of the Red River in Idabel, Oklahoma. There they saw hundreds of precontact Caddo pots, which even the tribal elders were completely unfamiliar with. "That day we were so excited that we decided as a group, as a tribe, we would learn how to do it and make Caddo pottery once again," Redcorn said. Her brother taught her the basics of coiled pottery. With extreme difficulty, she learned burnishing and engraving techniques.
Artwork
In 1991, Redcorn began experimenting and teaching herself how to make pottery using traditional Caddo methods, which involve coiling the clay and incising for decoration.[http://smithsonianscience.org/2010/04/three-clay-vessels-by-native-american-potter-jeri-redcorn-added-to-smithsonian-collections/ "New Acquisition: Clay vessels by Native American potter Jeri Redcorn added to Smithsonian collections."] Smithsonian Science. 28 April 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2012. She uses metal or bone tools to incise her pots with ancestral Caddo designs and hand fires them, instead of using a commercial kiln. To add color, she rubs red clay into the incised designs.
Collections
Redcorn's pottery is found in several public collections, including the following:
- Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum
- Oklahoma History Center
- Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Heye Center
- Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History.{{cite web|last=Mulkerin|first=Meghan|title=Welcoming the Redcorn Pottery to NMNH|url=http://nmnh.typepad.com/rogers_archaeology_lab/2012/07/welcoming-the-redcorn-pottery-to-nmnh.html|work=Rogers Archaeology Lab|publisher=Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology|accessdate=7 August 2012}}
In 2009, First Lady Michelle Obama displayed a pot by Jeri Redcorn, Intertwining Scrolls, in the White House.
Personal life
Notes
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://redcornpottery.com/about.html Redcorn Pottery], official website
- {{YouTube|iEJgSPR2qd0|"I Am a Caddo Potter"}}, video of Jeri Redcorn by the National Museum of the American Indian
- [https://dc.library.okstate.edu/digital/collection/ona/id/323/rec/64 Oral History Interview with Jereldine Redcorn]
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redcorn, Jeri}}
Category:Native American potters
Category:Ceramists from Oklahoma
Category:People from Norman, Oklahoma
Category:People from Washita County, Oklahoma
Category:American women potters
Category:21st-century American women
Category:21st-century Native American women