Ardina Moore

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Ardina Moore
Ma-shru-Ghe-Ta
Skirt by Ardina Moore
Rattlesnake ribbon work design
on skirt by Ardina Moore, 1995
Born
Ardina Revard

1930 (age 91–92)
Texas
Alma materNortheastern State University
Occupationartist, Native American clothing designer
Known forQuapaw speaker, textile artist
Notable work
Quapaw language preservation

Ardina Moore (née Revard, born 1930) is a Quapaw-Osage Native American from Miami, Oklahoma. She is a Quapaw language speaker and has developed a heritage preservation program to teach the language to younger tribal members.[1]

She is a fashion designer and regalia-maker, who founded an Indian apparel business, , in 1983.[2] She has received numerous awards for her fashion designs, has served in multiple leadership positions within the Quapaw Tribe of Indians, and was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame.

Early life[]

Ardina Revard was born in December 1930 in Texas to an Osage and Quapaw family.[1] [2] [3] Her father was James Osage "Jimmie" Revard, founder of the Oklahoma Playboys,[2][4] and her mother was Martha Dora Griffin, who died when Revard was about seven years old.[5] [6] Her maternal grandparents were Minnie and Chief Victor Griffin, the last Quapaw chief before the tribe formed a business committee.[2][7][8][9][10] Revard grew up speaking both English and Quapaw on the farm of Chief Griffin known as "Devil's Promenade" in northeastern Oklahoma.[1] After finishing high school, Revard enrolled at Northeastern State University, graduating in 1957.[2]

Early career[]

She began her career as a teacher, first teaching high school health and physical education. Then she taught Indian history and genealogy at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) in Miami, Oklahoma. Between 1967 and 1978, she lived in Montana, but returned to Oklahoma with her family and discovered that the Quapaw language was endangered.[1] She joined the Community Service Program, at NEO and began teaching evening language classes to preserve the Quapaw language,[3] creating her own workbooks and tapes, as she had no dictionaries or textbooks on the language.[11]

Artistic career[]

Moore, who had been making Native American fashions for her daughters to wear at powwows, Indian dances or other functions,[10] began commercially marketing Indian apparel in 1983. The company Buffalo Sun was located in Miami, Oklahoma, where Moore lives and designs the clothing. She also cuts the patterns which Native women then sew from their homes.[12] The company makes inner and outer wear as well as accessories, with traditional and contemporary fashions. Some are simple designs and others feature intricate beadwork and ribbonwork elements.[13] She has toured with her fashions throughout Oklahoma,[10] Arkansas,[1] Missouri,[13] and to both coasts, participating in the Powhatan Renape Nation fashion show in Pennsylvania[12] and Los Angeles where a fashion shows were held at the American Cultural Center and International Trade Center.[10]

Language and cultural preservation efforts[]

From her beginning evening classes Moore has now expanded her program to save the Quapaw language to two series of classes, which span over an eight-week period and are held annually at the Quapaw Tribal Museum.[1] The tribe also holds an annual Youth Language Camp, as well as conferences with the Dhegiha Language Conference to preserve and teach the Quapaw language and its closely related tongues, Osage and Omaha.[14] In addition to her efforts to save the Quapaw language, Moore has served as the tribe's powwow committee secretary/treasurer,[15] tribal historian,[16] chair of the tribe's Cultural Committee,[17] and as an elected member of the Tribal Business Committee.[2]

Awards and honors[]

Moore has received many awards and honors over her career. She won first place in the Santa Fe Indian Market fashion show twice, was awarded best in her division at the Eiteljorg Museum's annual Indian Market in Indianapolis, was honored by the Heard Museum of Phoenix in 2003, and was featured in an Oklahoma Educational Television Authority special in 2006.[2] In 2011, she was inducted into the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame.[17]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Owen, Rhonda (February 2014). "A Way with Words". Arkansas Life. Little Rock, Arkansas. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Buckskins to Silks style show coming to Pawhuska". Examiner-Enterprise. Bartlesville, Oklahoma. November 15, 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Teacher Passes On Tribal Language Northeastern A&M Offers Native American Courses". Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: News OK. December 10, 1989. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  4. ^ "Jimmie Revard and His Oklahoma Playboys". Handbook of Texas Online. Austin, Texas: Texas State Historical Association. October 25, 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  5. ^ Barker, Martha (21 May 2013). "Chief Ga'Haheh (Victor Griffin) of the Quapaw Tribe". Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  6. ^ Okeson, Sarah (July 22, 2015). "Quapaw Tribe working to pass on native language". The Joplin Globe. Joplin, Missouri. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  7. ^ "Quapaw Tribal Ancestry: Hereditary Chiefs of the Quapaw Tribe from 1818-1918". www.quapawtribalancestry.com. Retrieved 2016-03-08.
  8. ^ "Article hosted by Quapaw Tribal website".
  9. ^ Avery, Essie (1938). The Social and Economic History of the Quapaw Indians Since 1833. Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College. p. 62.
  10. ^ a b c d Ponder, Rebecca (March 21, 1986). "Fashion Designer Bases Clothes Collection on Tradition Original Indian Dress Receives Contemporary Treatment". Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: News OK. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  11. ^ Sloan, Dena (November 14, 2004). "A Voice of Tradition". Joplin Globe. Joplin, Missouri. p. 1. Retrieved 17 December 2015 – via Newspaperarchive.com. open access
  12. ^ a b Masters, Ruth (May 17, 1989). "American Indian By Design". Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Special to The Inquirer. Philly. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  13. ^ a b "'Buckskins to Silks' program scheduled for April 7 at Van Meter State Park". Marshall Democrat-News. Marshall, Missouri. March 23, 2007. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  14. ^ "Quapaw Tribe holds language preservation camp for youth". Indianz. July 23, 2015. Archived from the original on 17 December 2015. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  15. ^ "Quapaw Powwow Scheduled". Joplin Globe. Joplin, Missouri. June 15, 1983. p. 39 – via Newspaperarchive.com. open access
  16. ^ "Tribes Tell Their Stories in Arkansas Exhibit". Harrisonburg Daily News Record. Harrisonburg, Virginia. AP. April 7, 2009. p. 11. Retrieved 17 December 2015 – via Newspaperarchive.com. open access
  17. ^ a b Finnie, D. (January 21, 2011). "Hall of fame inductees to include Miami woman". Joplin Independent. Joplin, Missouri. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
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