Artist: Gina Gray (Osage) Title: Native Dreams Media: Acrylic on Canvass Dimensions: 12 inches X 24 inches
Gina Gray is widely respected as one of the finest contemporary Native American artists working today. A member of the Osage tribe, she is recognized as a master artist whose work has won virtually every major award in the Indian art world. Renowned as a printmaker and painter, her innovative style and colorful works are featured in magazines, books, films, and public and private collections. Her honors include an appointment by the Secretary of Interior as a Commissioner for the Indian Arts and Crafts Board in Washington DC. Her work has been featured in a one-woman exhibit at the Wheelwright Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico; in the collection of the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa , Oklahoma ; and in the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC . She won the 70th Annual Santa Fe Indian Market Fellowship Award from the Southwest American Indian Art Association.
Gina Gray graduated from the Institute of American Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and attended the California Institute of the Arts where she studied as a commercial artist.
Gina Gray lives in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, where she recently opened Gray Ink Studios, an art studio and teaching center. She is the mother of two and the grandmother of three.
Video Advertising the 2009 Gathering
Events at the 2009 Gathering
Wednesday October 7, 2009
Registration: People will start arriving and getting settled and checked in their accommodations.
Talking Circle, Wellness and Blessing Host: Attending Elders & Spiritual Leaders An opening talking circle will be conducted after dinner as well a blessing which will be help start off the 21st International Two Spirit Gathering and wish success and well being for all who are traveling and attend.
Thursday October 8, 2009
Two Spirit leaders; Organizational leadership workshop; Hosts: Attending Two Spirit Leaders This workshop will be an opportunity for all Two Spirit leaders to come together and strategize outreach opportunities and all the organizational challenges presented to two spirit communities and their representatives.
Two Spirit honor’s Project Host: Katrina Walters or Affiliate
Transgender Awareness/Talking Circle Host: natoyiniinastumiik (Holy Old Man Bull) Holy Old Man Bull will offer basic information about understanding transgender cultural, including interactive exercises addressing how minds work - filtering and looping - and how stereotypes influence our interactions, as well as providing definitions and terminology around ideas like sex, gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The second part will be a talking circle discussing the impact of western gender role expectations and how they may affect Two-Spirit people.
HIV on the Reservation Host: Steven Barrios Steven’s presentation will address HIV in Indian Country and how to get on the Community Planning Group (CPG) in those individual states so the Natives People can have a voice on what goes on in Indian Country.
Steven Barrios (Long Time Holy Rain) is Blackfeet born in Yakima, WA. He was raised on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana and has been a hair stylist for about 35 years. His involvement in HIV prevention has lasted 14 years. He is also involved in the Montana Two Spirit Society, NNAAPC Harm reduction board, national native American CPG, Montana Gay Men’s Task Force, Montana harm reduction team and the Montana CPG team. He has done out reach work for the past 14 years here on the reservation, working with youth on HIV and drug prevention and is currently on the steering committee for Pride out of Washington State. He has offered classes teaching Two Spirit history. He has been working with the Two Spirit people to bring a sense of pride in to the Native community. He continues to offer our youth and other Two Spirit people know where they come from and to educate the people who don’t know about Native people and culture.
Traditional Two Spirit Host: Christine Wheeler Christine Wheeler is a Lakota elder from the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Christine is the mother of Marty Prairie from whom the Marty Prairie award for HIV/AIDS work in Indian country is named. Christine is a mother who has lost two sons to AIDS putting her in the forefront of HIV/AIDS prevention and education. She has traveled extensively throughout this country to talk about HIV and to help stop the negative attitudes towards two spirit people. Christine says as a mother is was heart wrenching to see her two spirit sons mistreated because they were gay. She is determining to change the negative attitudes towards two spirit people.
Feature films
Two Spirit: (Lydia Nibley, Film Maker) Two Spirits tells a nuanced story of what it means to be poor, transgendered, and Navajo, and examines the lives of Fred Martinez, his friends, family, the police, and those in the larger community who were most affected by his murder.
The documentary explores Fred’s short and compelling life, his terrible death, and his enduring legacy—one that has led to renewed resolve by many people of the several cultures of the Four Corners region not only to accept diversity, but to honor it, and to help ensure that people are free to express the totality of who they are. Two Spirits demonstrates that we have much to gain from making our communities safe for people like Fred Martinez and it poses the question asked by his grieving mother, “Why are people killed for being who they are?”
This is Family: (Jean Baptiste Erreca, Film Maker) This documentary depicts various GLBT non Native families across the country with one exception. Members of the Two Spirit Society of Denver are showcased working together with the local Native non-Two Spirit community to demonstrate how they support each other and to work together as a community.
Diagnosing Differences: (Annalise Ophelian, Film Maker) How does it feel to have your gender identity included as a psychological diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)? Diagnosing Difference is a 60 minute documentary featuring interviews with thirteen transgender and gender queer scholars, artists, and activists as they explore the impact and implications of the Gender Identity Disorder (GID) on their lives and communities.
Using the diagnosis as a departure point, these diverse and articulate participants debunk myths and misconceptions about transgender identities, challenge stereotypical gender expectations, and offer educative insight into the terms and language used to describe transgender lives. This groundbreaking film is the first to explore the impact of the GID diagnosis on people who identify on the transgender spectrum in their own words and images.
Friday October 9, 2009
Story telling (sign up sheet) Many people who are attending this year’s Two Spirit Gathering have the gift of Story Telling. Story Telling is a traditional event amongst Native people alike to share their Creation Stories, Animal Stories and Life Lesson Stories.
Two Spirit History Host: John Hawk Cocke John has come into his own in the HIV-AIDS Prevention and Two Spirit Society arena, having gained notoriety on a national scale as a learned and gifted speaker. He talks with authority on Two Spirit History, and also on the honorable heritage of our Two Spirit peoples held in various tribes. John has made it his mission to educate others on the importance of respecting oneself and being proud of whom you are. John also lectures on tools necessary to achieve healthy relationships and the interpersonal skills needed to achieve long term commitments and on the important roles that two spirit peoples held in differing tribes. Most importantly, John lives by one maxim that he teaches wherever he goes: Traditionally speaking, no one was discarded or thrown away and all people were valued and brought value to the tribe. It is this reverence that John has for traditional ways and the beauty he sees in all people!
Decolonization of Two Spirit People Host: Raven Heavy Runner (Blackfeet) Colonization has had a devastating effect on First Nations communities. By examining how colonization has affected First Nations people, we can learn to decolonize ourselves, our families, and our communities. This presentation will help us analyze history, our communities, and ourselves to see how we can play an instrumental part in being change agents (changing ones). This can be done by informing ourselves, dialoguing, and creating personal, family, and community plans towards the process of colonization. This, as we are, is a work in process. Let us move together towards that sacred mending.
Raven E. Heavy Runner, MSW Raven was a BIA boarding school youth, Seattle street kid, U.S. Army veteran, stage actor, Two-Spirit leader, activist, college graduate, storyteller, social worker, and currently a supervisor with the Office of Indian Child Welfare in Seattle, WA. His passion is working with Native Children and Families. He has worked in the Native community since 1993.
Reclaiming Healthy Sexuality for the Next Seven Generations, Youth Panel Host: Jennifer Yee "In every decision - you must consider the impact on the seventh generation the Great Law of Peace of the Haudenosaunee. Come out to this interactive workshop lead by Two-Spirited youth activist Jessica Yee from the Mohawk Nation, who is the Director of the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, the only organization of its kind by and for Native Youth. We'll talk about the realities Two-Spirited youth face, current projects we are engaged in at NYSHN involving Two-Spirit youth throughout North America, and share best practices as we reclaim healthy sexuality for our next generations to both decolonize and reassert their ancestral pride in being!
Open Memorial Remembering those who have gone before us in various traditional aspects.
“No Talent Show”, Various performers
Saturday October 10, 2009
Day Hike/Spiritual Talking Circle Host: Sage Remington This event will consist of walking on provided trails and having talking circles on herbal wellness involving Native plants to the area.
Grant Writing Workshop Host: Jennifer Davis
Panel Discussion on Domestic Violence Host: Our Sister’s Keeper’s Coalition
Wedding Ceremony of Louva & Terra Hartwell Join in a Celebration of matrimonial union.
Female Embodiment Awareness (Talking Circle) Host: Mary Lou VanVoorhis & Jennifer Davis
We Can’t Start To Heal Until, We Understand Host: Pam Harjo Pam Harjo (Chickasaw) currently lives in Wichita Kansas and is married to Jerry Harjo. They have 4 children and 9 grandchildren. Pam Is the HIV/AIDS and Diabetes Program (s) Director for Hunter Health Clinic, as well as the Traditional Medicine Referral Person for Hunter. Pam has been the Wichita Two-Spirit Council’s Coordinator since it was started by Pam in 1997.
She will present on:
The History of Native America
Multi-Generational Grief
Current NA Health / Social Conditions
Two-Spirits (traditional people)
Indian Humor / Close Relationships
Spirituality / Contributions
Pow-Wow 101 Host: Pow-wow Organizers Review the rules and etiquette of Pow-wow & Native culture; with informal Q&A.
Annual Pow-Wow Host: Pow-wow Organizers The Pow-wow will present Host Drummers as Musk Rat Hallow from Jay Oklahoma and featuring Jerrica One Feather, (Lakota/Navajo) as Head woman dancer. The Head man dancer is to be announced. The Pow-wow will consist of traditional Native music, dancing with multiple tribes’s represented.
Sunday October 11, 2009
Ceremonial Give Away Host: Attending Participants Traditional ending events always close with a “give away” to honor people of their choosing with tokens of appreciation for the various tasks and reasons of their choosing.
Begin Departure at noon
2009 Gathering Location & Lodge Info
Location:
Aspen Lodge Ranch Resort & Conference Center 6120 Hwy 7 Estes Park, CO 80517 http://www.aspenlodge.net
Gathering History 
