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Also visit the website for the
Sioux YMCA
The Sioux YMCA Arts and Crafts Project promotes the traditional culture and the contemporary expressions of the Lakota living on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.
This site contains items with Lakota designs and with the YMCA logo. The Lakota people honor all relatives: the winged ones, the four-leg ones, the two leg ones and mother earth. This is reflected in the art and the materials used to create these items. The artist’s signature and other information is on the back of the card packaged with each item.
Artists are paid when the Project purchases the items for resale, thus generating an income for the individual and their family. We collect tax on each item. 4% of the tax goes to the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and supports tribal services to the Lakota people. The Reservation is one of the poorest in the United States. The remaining 1% helps with town services in Dupree on the Reservation. This Project helps artists make a better life and created a paid position for a project manager.
This site contains dream catchers, jewelry made from inlaid elk antler, items from braided horse hair, carved buffalo bone, painted bone, beadwork, small decorative drums, leather medicine pouches, postcards from the youth's photography project (My View Point) and CDs of original flute with guitar music. The colors of the Four Sacred Directions are the most common colors used by Lakota artists and in spiritual ceremonies.
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The West is Wiyohpeyatan and is black. The North is Waziyatan and is red. The East is Wiyohiyapatan and is yellow. The South is Itokagatan and is white. |
The Spotted Eagle, Wambli Gleska, is brown. The Mother Earth is green. The Sky is blue. |
Established by Lakota men in 1979, the mission of the General Convention of Sioux YMCAs is to develop and strengthen the children and families in our Reservation communities so they can fulfill their greatest individual and collective spiritual, mental and physical potential.
For more information about the other programs and services of this unique YMCA, please visit the website of the Sioux YMCA: www.siouxymca.org
Wopila – many thanks.
Sioux YMCA Art Project
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