We have a habit of getting art for our conference posters (each attendee gets a 18x print of the posters), which we give to each attendee. This year we were lucky enough to get a paining from Dawn Dark Mountain (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin). Here is her description of the work:

 Two Row Wampum/The Kaswentha

(We Will Follow Our Own Path)

Original sculptural watercolor                                        2014

According to Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) tradition, the Two Row Wampum belt was created in 1613 to record and honor an agreement between the Haudenosaunee and the Dutch, the first non-Natives to encounter our people. This treaty held three elements, first acknowledging our friendship, second that we will live in peace, and lastly that this treaty will last forever. Each peoples’ ways were symbolized by the purple rows that run the length of the belt. In one row is a ship with our white brothers ways, in the other is a canoe with the Haudenosaunee ways. They are surrounded by white, symbolizing peace. We would each follow our own path or river, side by side, in peace and respecting each other as long as the grass is green, the water runs downhill, as long as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west and as long as our Mother Earth will last.