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Michigan Heritage Awards
Arts
Nomination Form (PDF)
Arts Nomination
Form (word)
Community
Leadership Nomination Form (PDF)
Community Leadership
Nomination Form (word)
^ MHA Awardees List ^
Photo by Minnie Wabanimkee
John Pigeon
2010 awardee, Hopkins (Allegan County), black
ash basket making
John Pigeon is known in the Native American community throughout Michigan
and beyond for his mastery and teaching of black ash basketry and his knowledge
about the Anishinaabe culture. Active in his community of the Pokagon Band
of Potawatomi Indians for over thirty years, he teaches family and extended
family, holds community weaving sessions and hosts art markets, providing
a way for artists to sell their work. John is a seventh-generation basket
maker, having learned from his mother and father, Jennie and Edmund White
Pigeon, who learned from their parents and grandparents. He is now teaching
his grandchildren in the same way he taught his children. He is acknowledged
for his community leadership, generosity and sharing, passing on these skills
and knowledge to young basket makers and future generations. Respectful
of their relationship with the earth, John says “Season to season,
year after year, my family and I gather our seeds and then plant and replant,
always acknowledging the gifts we receive.” John has shared his talents
in numerous museum educational programs and exhibits such as the basketry
show at the Heard Museum (Phoenix, Arizona), the Eiteljorg Museum (Indianapolis,
Indiana) educational workshops, and the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, as
well as the MSU Museum’s Great Lakes Folk Festival and Michigan Traditional
Arts Apprenticeship Program. He has been a mentor to many and is responsible
for the development of other Native American basket weavers in the state.
His respectful teaching and sharing are what inspired those whose lives
he’s touched to nominate him for this community leadership award.
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