Objects of gratitude

Tulsa Artist Fellow Anita Fields honors her Osage heritage

When I walked in to Anita Fields’ sunny studio—a sparse, open room overlooking a vine-covered wall—she was sunk deep into a plush, beige chair in the corner. Eye glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. She was weaving together four delicate strips of bright, colored ribbons using a technique called Osage Ribbon Work. On that day, she was making a traditional shawl for her daughter’s wedding.

As a 2017 Tulsa Artist Fellow, Fields is continuing her work of over forty years in traditional folk art materials like clay and textile. Her interest in these draws primarily from her upbringing in Hominy, where she was deeply rooted in her Osage Nation heritage.

In working with clay, Fields believes that it—like the land—has memory. Her attraction to the material is strengthened through that shared relationship. She spoke of Osage history—how the land doesn’t forget the Tribe’s forced exile from Kansas to Indian Territory, and the wealth they quickly built in the hilly, rocky, oil-rich land of northern Oklahoma.

“The response from clay is often so immediate. Its malleability and visual response have always kept me intrigued,” she said. “I am able to take it from the earth and make something that is on my mind, instantly, and have a connection to where I came from.”

Most recently, Fields has recently been creating traditional Osage wedding coats and ceremonial dance wear, marking her interest in domestic motifs that honor Osage women.

“The dresses, and in this case, the Osage wedding coat, illustrate my interest in the strength of women and how native peoples show remarkable resourcefulness and adaptability toward their environment,” she said.

Her current work-in-progress, a traditional Osage wedding coat, reflects her people’s complicated history. Currently, the coat exists in prototype form only. Its interior depicts a map illustrating the tension Fields feels in relation to her heritage and the disruption that drilling for oil caused to northern Oklahoma land.

The exterior of the coat is still being determined, but Fields has sketches depicting how she hopes it will come together: Osage ribbon work will create a red collar against a blue background, forming a pattern similar to a Civil War-era military coat.

In January, her wedding coat will debut at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History in Norman, where it will be displayed alongside works by members of Fields’ family.

Fields sees all of her work as a symbol of gratitude to those who are near and dear to her today and those in the past.

“This coat,” she said, “is a gift of graciousness and gratitude: to my family and to my ancestors. Of where we came from, and where we are now.”