Ojibwe artist helps bring fashion to the runway for Native American Heritage Month
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
Wendy Savage, a citizen of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, has been an artist her entire life. From painting to sewing and beadwork, her art has been showcased at the Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth and throughout her tribe's reservation.
She says she comes from a family of artists. Museums and exhibitions have also featured her siblings' art.
"My parents were very lenient and let us do a lot of coloring and things like that. So, it kind of came naturally to all of us," Savage said.
Her career as an artist has also included teaching at the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College and at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
Still active in the art scene at the age of 73, she is co-organizing a fashion show to kick off Native American Heritage Month at Black Bear Casino Resort near Cloquet.
"I'm an old lady who tries to retire. And every time I try and retire, the phone rings and someone's got a good idea, and they drag me out again," Savage said. However, this isn't her first time organizing a fashion show. She says she previously helped organize a runway event at the Tweed Museum of Art a few years back.
Her friend and then-colleague asked her at the time if she would curate a show for the museum. At first, Savage says she was hesitant to say yes, but she eventually gave in after a thorough discussion.
"He was really wonderful to work with, because he'll just let me do anything I want, and he's up for it," she said, recalling a memory from the show. Savage says she was able to draw people in with a birchbark canoe made by her brother and that she had creative freedom.
When the idea for this upcoming show was raised, Savage says her niece brought her name up in conversation.
"My niece pops up and says, 'Oh, my auntie did a fashion show at Tweed Museum of Art a couple years ago!' So, she calls me up and she says, 'Want to do a fashion show?'"
Savage said, "I said, 'Only if you help, because it's a tremendous amount of work.'"
Savage and other organizers immediately started writing proposals and finding community members who wanted to walk the runway and showcase their artwork.
"You can go to a powwow, you know, and see Native regalia, but a lot of [non-Native] people don't go. And so, this is just a way for us to share and celebrate the people that we have," she said, also stating that fashion shows have become a popular event to introduce the public to Native culture.
Models featured on the runway will be local community members, showcasing their own regalia that they have sewn themselves.
"The goal is to show the positive aspects of being an entrepreneur and being proud and wearing your regalia," Savage said.
'Art is a way of life'
Her own pieces will also be featured on the runway at the show, including a strap dress, which she describes as a simple design based on traditional hide dresses in Ojibwe culture. The dress has adjustable sleeves and leggings that can be worn—or not.
"Living in this North Country, it can get cold in the morning. So, they made a set of sleeves that you slip into, but they're removable, so if it's cold, you slip your sleeves on. If it's hot, you take it off," Savage described.
Style says the dress is not form-fitting, she says. It's shaped like a rectangle and sometimes adorned with ribbons or a belt. Her dress is made with cotton fabric patterned with blueberries, her favorite fruit.
"I think blueberries are sacred. And when you're eating a piece of blueberry pie, you're eating medicine," Savage said. "It's a natural fruit. So of course, it has qualities to it."
The dress also features abalone shells and gold beadwork along the trim. Savage says she loves to embellish "anything and everything" in her art.
"If I'm going to sit and bead for about eight hours to put it on the trim, you darn right, I'm going to use the most expensive beads I can get," Savage said.
At the time of the interview, she said her dress had yet to be named. However, the word "blueberries" would be incorporated into its title, after the base fabric design.
Despite earlier mentions of retirement, Savage remains active in the art community. She has an upcoming exhibition in January at the Duluth Art Institute, which she says will be based on the fur trade. People will be able to find her latest creations alongside work from fellow artist Carl Gawboy.
"Art is a way of life. It's just always been a way of life. It's just always been something that I've always done. It's always been something that our family has done, and I think it's the most human thing that we can possibly do," she said.
As for the fashion show, she says artists will showcase both traditional clothing and contemporary fashion.
"If you haven't seen or appreciated the Natives in your community, fashion is an easy way to introduce it, and it's fun. It's a fun evening," Savage said.
Savage's dress will be featured on the runway Saturday night in the Otter Creek Event Center of Black Bear Resort and Casino.
The fashion show starts at 7 p.m., following a 5:30 p.m. ceremony. The show is free and open to the public.
Chandra Colvin covers Native American communities in Minnesota for MPR News via Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues and communities.
