
Sustaining Traditions—Digital Teachings
Kelly ChurchWW-2018-016255
2018·Black ash, sweetgrass, copper and Rit dye; medicine pouch containing sage, tobacco, sweetgrass, and cedar; glass vial containing emerald ash borer and isopropyl alcohol; USB flash drive·19.7 × 10.2 × 10.2 cm (7 13/16 × 4 1/16 × 4 1/16 in.)
<p>Native artists such as Kelly Church, a fifth-generation basket maker, have relied on black ash trees to make baskets since time immemorial. Across the United States, however, these trees are being decimated by the emerald ash borer, an invasive insect. Church envisions a future when traditional knowledge keepers like herself may not be able to teach this art to the next generation. Inside this basket, she has placed a flash drive containing files that record this knowledge for her community, entrusting our museum to preserve it.</p>
Catalogue
- Year
- 2018
- Dimensions
- 19.7 × 10.2 × 10.2 cm (7 13/16 × 4 1/16 × 4 1/16 in.)
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Artist
- Kelly Church
Artist

Kelly Church
Mixed Media
Kelly Jean Church is a black ash basket maker, Woodlands style painter, birchbark biter, and educator. She lives in Michigan.
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More by Kelly Church
Record
Verified by WattsOS- Artist
- Kelly Church
- Year
- 2018
- Dimensions
- 19.7 × 10.2 × 10.2 cm (7 13/16 × 4 1/16 × 4 1/16 in.)
- Watts ID
- WW-2018-016255
Source
- Collection
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Source
- aic
- Reference
- View at source
- Status
- verified
