We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Randee Spruce a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Randee, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
i would say my resilience comes from my community and our ancestors. The whole reason i am able to create using anceint techniques and symbols is because someone had to pass that information onward. I am grateful for the other artists that come from my community who share their knowledge with others in hopes that they may pick up the work too. I dont think we would still be here today if it wasnt for our ancestors passing traditions down to the grandchildren. i beleive that every decision made should be made with the next generation of children in mind. I never had anyone in my family show me how to be artistic, with growing you meet new people and those people have their own skills, styles, and interests. Im grateful for these people in my community who shared their skills with me and showed me a new avenue of creation and tradition. It really puts into persceptive how we survived as a people from before colonization to now. I think if thats not resiliency, i dont know what would be a better example.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am the Curator for the Seneca Nation’s Onöhsagwë:de’ Cultural Center, located on the Allgenay Territory of the Seneca Nation in New York State. My priority is community involvment and preservation of the historical and cultural materials of the Seneca Nation. I studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM and I’m very passionate about bringing new technologies and ideas to my hometown museum. Eventually, i would like to continue my educational journey to become an object conservator and advocate for NAGPRA repatriations in the United States and Europe. Artistically speaking, I would like to continue on exploring different cultural mediums such as beadwork, quillwork, and ledger art, as well as contuing to refine my drawing and painting techniques. I love learning about my cultures history and i beleive its important to keep those histories alive by using the clues given to us by our ancestors in my artworks. i encourage people to always be open-minded and try something new whenever you get the chance because you never know what could make your soul happy. I am currently working to apply to different art shows every year. This past year i participated in the Santa Fe Indian Market, the Eiteljorg Museum Indian Market, & the Ganondagan Hodi:nohsyo:nih Art Show. I hope to continue wherever this path takes me in my artistic or professional career.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Collaboration and refining your skills is key. To be able to try something new or open yourself up to new ideas is a must if you are trying to grow yourself. I have met different artists throughout my career and every single one of them has shown me something about themselves, their craft, their beliefs, the way they do certain things, and this has definitely impacted the way i think about the world and ultimately what it is im trying to accomplish. Also researching different aspects of what you are interested in can help with further understanding your subject matter. For me, looking deeper into Seneca history and studying artifacts from our ancestors has given me inspriation and a new persceptive on how important it is to pass traditions on to the next generations. This also shows me how important it is to uplift and help one another, im pretty sure that value is in our DNA as indigenous people. Growing to me is also being able to recognize your mistakes as steps to become a greater version of yourself. With trial & error, having these mistakes is only going to make you better at your craft. i am thankful to every person who has shared a little piece of themselves with me so that i am able to become better than i was yesterday.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Anybody really, i feel that everyone is unique with their own interests. i would like to work with someone who is skilled in other areas that i havent explored or was never introduced to. For work, we got to do a basketry class with one of our local Seneca artists, Penny Minner, who is an award winning, amazing weaver and teacher. While doing this basket class i had high ambitions and it proved to be much more intracate than i had anticipated. i now know thar i am NOT built to make baskets but i have this whole new respect for it and for the women who are skilled in this area. I also think of the women of our past who continued these traditions so that i could even have this chance of weaving a basket. It really makes you think that we could have lost this artform a long time ago but we are still here and we are still thriving. I have every intent to pass on what has been taught to me weather it be the culture, history, or any of our traditional artistic practices. I want to explore other artforms whenever i get the chance, or maybe its something i already do like beadwork for example, but even then i think theres always something new to learn with whatever you do so im pretty open to anything. One day, i would like to host my own classes in hopes of inspring others to continue to be artistic.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.randeespruce.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aweose
Image Credits
Kaylei Miller Photography and i own the rights to use the headshot photo
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
