MENOMINEE-POTOWATOME GERALD R. HAWPETOSS BORN– MOCASSIN & REGALIA MAKER
Born in 1952, in Neopit, Wisconsin, at age 8, Gerald went to live with his great-aunt and great-uncle who taught him tribal traditions. His great aunt learned moccasin making from her mother–a noted Menominee moccasin maker. Gerald learned traditional tanning methods; the 3 main moccasin designs and the beadwork, quillwork, and ribbon appliqué designs. A master of beadwork and featherwork, he also made traditional Menominee dance regalia, including roach headdresses from porcupine & deer tail hair, elk horn headpieces, and dance bustles. Gerald also created the osakapun, a fingerwoven beadwork widow’s funerary ornament. Since the mid-1980s, Hawpetoss has taught at the Indian Community School of Milwaukee, participated in the Wisconsin State Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program, and been listed in the state’s artist-in-education directory. He lives in Zor, Wisconsin, in the western part of the Menominee reservation.
Source: “Gerald R. Howpetoss,” National Endowment for the Arts, 1992. Retrieved 8/1/2020, https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/gerald-r-hawpetoss Photo: NEA, 1992. Public Domain.
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