Image Not Available

Rhonda Holy Bear

Lakota (Sioux), b. 1959

BiographyLakota doll artist.

Rhonda Holy Bear is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. She was born in South Dakota, at Old Cheyenne River Agency--also known as "Chief Martin Charger's Camp." Rhonda grew up in extreme poverty and was raised mainly by her grandparents, DeSmet and Angeline [Soft] Holy Bear. Rhonda's earliest dolls were a hammer and a clothespin. Grandmother Angeline's encouraged Rhonda to sew. All they had was black thread and a couple of needles. She told Rhonda that, if she collected as many fabric pieces as she could, she could make a quilt. Rhonda collected fabric like her grandmother had instructed but, she was not interested in making a quilt. What Rhonda wanted were toys, especially dolls. Driven, she walked to the dumping ground in search of other things she might use. The dump proved to be a good source for supplies and materials. On the way home from the dump, she would collect clay from the river bed. She brought the clay home and fashioned a crude sculpture of a head. As soon as the clay head had dried, eleven-year-old Rhonda Holy Bear went to the Mobridge Museum and asked the curator to put her clay head on display. When Rhonda was fourteen, she moved to Chicago to live with an aunt. She enrolled in a school that had strong arts and cultural history programs. Many acclaimed Native artists and tribal members visited the students and gave demonstrations and lectures. She found herself particularly drawn to the more traditional, hands-on skills of beading and sculpting. In 1978, when Rhonda was eighteen, she picked up a book and discovered a picture of an antique Indian doll from the late 1800's. She remembered the story her Grandmother had told her, years before, about her long-lost doll friend. She was inspired to create a doll at that very moment. Rhonda only had ten dollars. She made the doll body from her pillowcase. She found a coat hanger from which she fashioned an armature. She bought a bag of cotton balls from the drug store and a car chamois from the hardware store. Rhonda used the chamois to simulate the look of traditional brain-tanned buckskin clothing. She stuffed pieces of her pillowcase with the cotton balls. The doll needed hair. Rhonda cut some of her own hair and sewed it onto the doll's head. Rhonda put the final details on the doll: a dress with a fully beaded yoke, moccasins, leggings, and a leather belt with conchos, fashioned from thumbtacks. 1982, when she saw an ad in The Chicago Sun Times for a new art gallery called American West. Curious, she decided to check it out. The gallery owners took notice of Rhonda and offered her a sales job, which she accepted. The gallery owner offered her a ride to work the next day. 1982, when she saw an ad in The Chicago Sun Times for a new art gallery called American West. Curious, she decided to check it out. The gallery owners took notice of Rhonda and offered her a sales job, which she accepted. The gallery owner offered her a ride to work the next day. When he arrived at Rhonda's apartment the next morning, the gallery owner noticed the dolls Rhonda had made. Rhonda told him that she had made them, he was intrigued. He asked Rhonda to bring the dolls to the gallery to show his wife, who was a doll collector. Rhonda agreed. Later that day, the gallery owners offered Rhonda eighty dollars for two dolls. Rhonda accepted and the two dolls sold immediately the following day. The gallery owners requested that Rhonda bring in more dolls for display. Rhonda brought in eight more. That very day, a woman came into the gallery and bought all of them. They ran an ad in American Indian Art Magazine, which helped introduce Rhonda's dolls to the world. She made weekly trips to the Chicago Field Museum on "Free Admission Night".She learned the traditional art of ribbon work from an older tribal woman named Sarah Keahna and learned many Cherokee legends and arts from John White, a museum worker. She called upon the renowned historian, researcher, and scholar, Fr. Peter J. Powell. He spoke to the museum's curator. Rhonda was allowed access to the vaults and to the literary and photographic libraries. For the next couple of years, Rhonda would spend countless hours researching there. Later, she would travel around the country, museum hopping. She would scour the bead stores, trading posts, and antique shops, in search of information, supplies and artifacts.

Person TypeIndividual