For powwow vendors, art runs deeper than business

Here’s what they shared.

Dawn Yazzie (Navajo)

Dawn Yazzie grew up collecting corn and juniper seeds, meticulously stringing them together with her small hands to create necklaces, earrings, whatever jewelry her imagination led her to.

When her mother did laundry at the trading post, Yazzie went along and sold her jewelry to help her mother cover laundry costs.

“I was born an entrepreneur,” Yazzie joked.

Now Yazzie creates and sells beautifully crafted rings, dream catchers and more.This year is her second year selling her art at the United Tribes Technical College International Powwow Sept. 5 - 7 in Bismarck, North Dakota. She came all the way from the Navajo Nation Reservation in Northern Arizona.

Her beading isn’t just business, Yazzie said, it’s spiritual.

“Sometimes you make something, and it runs its own force,” Yazzie said. “You don’t just sit nine to five. You have to feel it.”

Yazzie uses stones of various colors, each with their own spirits and energies. Mixing stones together creates powerful meaning, she said. Her favorite combination is turquoise and coral, which she said represents balance.

“That’s the basis of our (Navajo) belief system, it’s what we strive for every day,” Yazzie said. “In the Navajo way with art you don’t overdo it or exploit it. We protect it.”

Because of this belief, Yazzie does not allow photos to be taken of her or her art.

Lauren Good Day (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara)

Lauren Good Day grew up dancing in the UTTC powwow, a tradition she has since passed on to her three kids, whom she proudly watches from her booth.

She has been surrounded by art - and powerful female artists - since she was a baby. Her grandmother sewed moccasins and her mother sewed powwow regalia.

When she was a teenager, she also sewed powwow regalia and sold it locally to the community. As a citizen of the MHA Nation, Good Day wanted to bring Native art, made by a Native, to other Natives.

Her love of art led her to paint and do beadwork.. She gained wide recognition, she said, explaining that her art has been featured in local interpretive centers and the North Dakota State Historical Society as well as at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C.

But paintings are expensive and take time to create. Good Day also wanted something affordable that community members could wear with pride.

She launched her fashion brand Lauren Good Day in 2018, featuring her art collections on wearable items such as shirts, dresses and skirts.

Like Yazzie, Good Day said selling art runs deeper than business.

“The clothing is not just business,” Good Day said. “It shares culture with our people.”

Cece Meadows (Yoeme)

Through social media, Good Day connected with another Native business owner, Cece Meadows in 2021. They met in person a year later and have been friends and business partners ever since.

Meadows owns a cosmetic company called Prados Beauty, which can be found online and in more than 600 retail stores, most recently JCPenny. Like Good Day, Meadows is proud to bring her products to Native communities.

“I want to show the world what it means to be Indigenous people,” Meadows said. “It’s a beautiful thing to blend cultures and uplift each other.”

Meadows travels to the powwow from New Mexico to visit her friend and display her cosmetics in a booth shared with Good Day.

“Community over competition,” Meadows said. “We’re still here, we’re not people of the past, and we make cool things people can take pride in wearing.”