Kelly Church
A fifth-generation basket maker, weaving tradition and alarm about the loss of Michigan's black ash.
This artist's work is shown through the museum and artist links on this page while it remains under copyright or awaits a permission-cleared image.
Church is Ottawa and Pottawatomi, descended from the Gun Lake and Grand Traverse Bands, and lives in Hopkins. Her father, Bill Church, and cousin John Pigeon taught her black ash basketry. Her family tradition goes back at least to a 1919 photograph, and her daughter, Cherish Parrish, is the sixth generation.
She holds degrees from the Institute of American Indian Arts and the University of Michigan. She also practices birch bark biting, learned from elder Ron Pawken.
The emerald ash borer has devastated the trees her art depends on. She documents harvesting, collects seeds and teaches young people, and some of her baskets carry that warning. She was named an NEA National Heritage Fellow in 2018.