Four Winds Gallery invites you to meet Chickasaw jeweler Kristen Dorsey and view her latest work: The Hatchet Women Collection- Indigenous Resistance since 1736. This will be the first public launch of this collection as well as Kristen's first live demonstration of her specialized sculptural metal-working techniques. We are so excited to gain more insight into Kristen's process. We look forward to seeing you there.
Friday, May 5 - 6:00 to 8:00pm
Cocktail Reception
Saturday, May 6 - 11:00am to 5:00pm
Personal Appearance and Sculptural Jewelry Demonstrations
This collection tells the story of how Chickasaw women defended their villages from the French in the 1730s. First hand accounts by French commanders describe their many failures to attack Chickasaw villages in our ancestral Southeastern homelands. Much credit can be given to the women who were trained in combat and who wielded hatchets. They were called “hatchet women” by the French and gained a reputation as unconquerable.
As a jewelry artist descended from these women, this story spoke to me because it echoes the current indigenous-female-led movement for clean water and environmental justice. Just as my ancestors fiercely defended our land and children from invaders, so must our women today defend the land against fossil fuel corporations. Today we wield knowledge instead of hatchets; however, we are no less fierce than our grandmothers and will pass on this gift of strength to our granddaughters.
Through my hatchet-adorned designs, I celebrate the strength of my ancestors and of all women today.
Process of creating the bat wing collar that Kristen will be debuting along with her collection
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| Elements for bat wing collar cut and filed before chasing and repoussé |
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| Wings with chasing and repoussé in Kristen's pitch pot |
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| Soldering process |
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| Black rhodium plated collar completed |
