"Preserving Culture Through Craftwork"

ONEIDA - Loons look quietly up at you and Indian chiefs sit solemnly prepared for war with a rival tribe when you enter Mona Staats house near Oneida.

The subjects are not animate, however, but are part of her wide collection of nature and native crafts.

Having always enjoyed painting and other artwork as a child, Mona has carried on her talent into producing ceramic loons and unique chess sets which have Indian chiefs and their wives and the king and queen, warriors as the pawns and teepees as the castles.

For a special touch, she sometimes covers the checkered board with deer hide to add a greater natural look. Men are painted in natural browns and reds and not the gaudy bright colors used on a lot of so called native art, Mona said.

Mona, who has been involved in ceramics for five years, started off with a chess set for her first piece. It took her over 50 hours, but she said. "I like to do the hard things first in anything... it sort of gives me a positive outlook on life."

"We had a fine teacher (in elementary school). She promoted Indian art, she promoted native displays.

"It was just so beautiful to have a teacher to promote heritage because back then there was no natural studies on the curriculum as there is today."

Mona attended School #5 on the Six Nations reserve, a one-room schoolhouse with 30 students in Grades 1 to 8 and a place at which she said complemented the respect for heritage her her parents had already enforced with her.

Having tried a variety of artwork and crafts, Mona said the ceramics seems to be something at which she is both successful and popular.

"I find that I have quite a number of orders so I didn't get into any other type of ceramics."

A display of her loons was accepted for the One of A Kind artshow in Toronto recently. Getting accepted for this show was an involved process that included a long application form and a request for several photographs of her work. "They accepted my work and that in itself was very important."

Another honor she enjoyed was the presentation of one of her chess sets to Lieutenant-Governor Lincoln Alexander when he officially opened a renovated chapel on the reserve. She and her daughter covered that board with deer hide to more effectively convey a native atmosphere on it.

Mona passes on her various talents through teaching. She taught the 4-H club how to make corn husk dolls, twig furniture for their dolls and miniature wooden lacrosse sticks.

She said she displays her work as often as possible at local arts and crafts shows. She has also produced wildflower arrangements, leather crafts - which she has since given up "because of a bad wrist" - and a variety of other artwork using natural means.

"I try to keep them as authentic as I can with not too many bright colors to take away from it," she said. Other native work includes ceramic models of the Last Trail, sometimes known as the Weary Traveller, and of Hiawatha's wedding day with her groom.

A member of the Brantford Nature Club, Mona's children have enjoyed her artistic talents and respect of heritage. Her daughter is a historical researcher at the Woodland Centre and her son is a successful photographer, based in Toronto.