PRE-SALE OPENS OCT 28-29:

RATTLES FOR VETERANS

FUNDRAISING SALE

Seeking to honor a veteran friend or family member this Veterans Day (November 11)? Consider a gift of a beautiful, handmade, one of a kind rattle, created by Encaustic Art Institute (EAI) members Cat and Harriette Tsosie. Proceeds from the Institute’s online rattle sales will help the Institute create a virtual museum for its permanent collection. Here’s Cat’s statement about the rattles project:

“I am a Native American, combat Marine veteran who served in Viet Nam, earning a Purple Heart. As a result of my service, I suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. Drawing and creating ceremonial gourd rattles is therapeutic for me.

Recently, I was initiated into the Southern Cheyenne Albuquerque Warrior Shield Society, a great honor for Native veterans like me. We perform the Gourd Dance, a healing ceremony, at many Native American pow wows. As in many ceremonies, the dancers carry a rattle, which is used to “call the spirits” and include them in the dance.

Several years ago, I started my own gourd gardens, planting the seeds, harvesting the gourds and making them into rattles. I clean and prepare them — removing the seeds, bleaching the exterior to remove any mold, painting a gesso primer on the surface and inserting a dowel handle (or sometimes a buffalo bone or interesting stick). My wife and I create designs on the gourd’s surface and she finishes them with acrylic paint and varnish.

Community is a core Native American value, so we have sold our rattles online and donated the proceeds to the the Navajo Nation (to fight Covid); to its Ramah Chapter (for animal feed and veterinary services), and to support the Encaustic Art Institute. We also enter the rattles in art exhibitions, where they have won prizes and sold to the general public as percussion instruments and gifts. We use the funds generated by such sales to replenish the supplies we used to create the rattles and for other expenses.

Sale opens to the public on October 30. Link to view and purchase the rattles in this special fundraising sale benefitting the 501-c-3 non-profit arts organizations, Encaustic Art Institute and the Museum of Encaustic Art, will be posted on the home page of the EAI website on October 30. Special pre-sale for current EAI/MoEA members opens on Friday, October 28 & Saturday, October 29. Link for pre-sale will be emailed to EAI/MoEA members on the morning of October 28.