Traditional recognition: 2024 National Endowment for the Arts honors Zuni Olla Maidens, quilter Susan Hudson

This year, two of the ten 2024 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowships were presented to a dance troupe and a quilter with ties to the Land of Enchantment.

The Zuni Olla Maidens, traditional dancers and singers from Zuni Pueblo and quilter Susan Hudson (Navajo/Diné), who lives in Sheep Springs, New Mexico, were recognized with the prestigious honor in the fall. The NEA National Heritage Fellowships is the nation’s highest honor in folk and traditional arts, according to its website. Each year since 1982, the program recognizes recipients’ artistic excellence, lifetime achievement and contributions to our nation’s traditional arts heritage.

Traditional recognition: 2024 National Endowment for the Arts honors Zuni Olla Maidens, quilter Susan Hudson

The Zuni Olla Maidens were nominated for the fellowship by a couple who were impressed by their performance at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center prior to the pandemic. The couple felt the troupe had a good chance of getting the award because of their family kinship, travels and the meaning behind their dances and songs, as well as the fact that members of the troupe are all female, according to Juanita Edaakie, a singer in the troupe.

The troupe later received word that they had not been selected to receive the award with their initial nomination, but were told it usually takes four years or more to be recognized.

Their patience paid off and Edaakie received a call from a NEA director informing her that the Zuni Olla Maidens would be receiving the honor in September of this year.

“I cried because it’s just really surreal for all of us, and it just seemed like such an honor and a dream and something that our group has really worked for, but it was really nice to get the recognition because of our work as a dance group,” Edaakie said.

“It was really wonderful just going out to Washington (D.C.) and receiving the award, being able to travel to different places in Washington and being recognized by so many people that have been working within the field of art,” Edaakie said. “Meeting the other nine recipients and getting to know them and realizing that there are so many people that have really wonderful talent in their art was really a wonderful experience for all of us.”

The Zuni Olla Maidens’ leadership has been passed down through the generations. It has been a family affair for more than 70 years. The troupe was originally led by Edaakie’s late grandmother, Crystal Sheka and later Edaakie’s mother, Cornelia Bowannie, led it for about 25 years. When she retired, she turned over the troupe to Edaakie and her sister Loretta to lead it. The sisters also are the singers of the troupe, with some of Edaakie’s other female relatives, including nieces, performing trademark dances balancing pottery on their heads.

“A lot of the songs that we use in our performances are songs that were created by the men of Zuni during different parts of the year,” Edaakie said. “It could be during the fall, during the winter. There’s a CD that my sister and I found where they recorded songs that were created, I think in the 1980s. She and I both decided we liked the songs and we started singing them. So we adopt the songs that the men create and we sing them in our performances.”

Hudson, a multidimensional artist and skilled quilter, was born in Los Angeles and now resides in Sheep Springs. She is a member of the Navajo Nation and her clans are Towering House People, Apache People, Water Edge People and Mexican People, according to her bio on the NEA website.

Out of necessity, her mother taught her how to sew at a young age. She learned to alter donated clothes and make quilts out of the scraps. Her quilts provided a form of income for her underprivileged family and she began making star quilts for powwows and giveaways until she was encouraged by a U.S. senator from Colorado to break away from the traditional style of quilt, according to the website. She found her voice creating contemporary ledger art quilts, which features a crossover type of narrative that recounts history.

Her pictorial quilts honor her ancestors and illustrate the proud history of the Navajo people, according to the website. She is the co-founder of the Navajo Quilt Project, which donates fabric to elders all across the Navajo Nation, makes quilts for giveaways and traditional ceremonies, and empowers others to start their own businesses.

Rozanna M. Martinez is the arts and entertainment editor of the Albuquerque Journal. You can reach her at rmartinez@abqjournal.com.