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Sharing a cultureWendy Ponca inspired by heritageBv JAN LYNNWendy Ponca is a Santa Fe fashion designer whose collection — from clothing, shawls and blankets to wall hangings and art objects — is both a reflection and a redefinition of a culture.Ponca's cultural heritage is from the Osage, an Indian tribe in north central Oklahoma where she spent part of her childhood.She incorporates elements from that culture, such as finger weaving (off-looni weaving), into her contemporary fashions. A dress worn by. Indian dancers, for example (Ponca danced in tribal dances from the age of 21, is transformed into a dazzling dress in golcl lame with a bustle in the back that Ponca describes as a “fancy dance dress.Rosemary Diaz, model and manager of Ponca's new store. Ponca Design. 151 Cerrillos Roadat the Casa Sin Nombre (iallery. said Ponca s work has a traditional inspiration underlying its contemporary design.There are so many stereotypes around American Indian design, but there arc many different elements today, like punk rock, that go int« design. Diaz said. “These designs are what's happening now in Native American culture.Ponca uses traditional cloth, like Indian trade cloth, heads, the fur and skin of animals, to make comfortable fashions with simple lines. In a new design for spring and summer, she has hand painted symbols of designs from pot shards onto muslin blouses. She found the potshards on a mesa, the site of an unexcavated Indian ruin near l’l Kilo where she and husband. David Ashmore, live with their three children.Ponca's work is eclectic. She mixes glass beads used by the Indians for trading with a (ireekContinued on Page 11
Newspaper Details
Santa Fe New Mexican
Santa Fe, New Mexico, US
Thu, Mar 22, 1990
Page 50
Full Page
Clipped by
Susun W.
USA 22 Aug 2017
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