JUNE 3, 1910

LAKOTA QUILTER NELLIE STAR BOY MENARD BORN

Menard, born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota (SD), while at Indian School, won a robe for a Pendleton blanket design she submitted. After graduating in 1929, she taught Indian arts at the school. Though uncredited, Menard collected most of the designs in Quill and Beadwork of the Western Sioux by Carrie Lyford (1935). From 1937-42, Nellie ran the Arts & Crafts Shop in Rosebud and, in 1941, was a delegate to the Museums of Modern Art and of the American Indian in New York City. In 1942, she ran an arts & crafts shop in Browning, Montana, but returned to SD after World War II and worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs for 30 years. Menard began star quilting after the death of her son. Consistent with tradition, Nellie made the quilts for community & family purposes–all dedicated to her late son. She also did featherwork, tanning, quillwork, beading, crochet, and made shawls. Menard, who received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1995, died on September 3, 2005

Source: “Nellie Star Boy Menard,” National Endowment for the Arts.  Retrieved 11/10/2021, 
Nellie Star Boy Menard | National Endowment for the Arts
Photo: National Endowment for the Arts, 1995.  Public Domain.