JANUARY 2, 2003

LAKOTA QUILLWORKER ALICE NEW HOLY BLUE LEGS DIED

Born July 26, 1925, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota (SD), Alice attended Oglala Community School and completed high school. As her mother & grandmother, who both did quillwork, died when she was young, her father encouraged her to learn Lakota quillwork through trial & error. Alice’s motifs replicated traditional Lakota designs. With husband Amil Blue Legs, she produced crafts, garments, and regalia. Alice taught quillwork at universities & museums. Exhibits: Heard, Sioux Indian (SIM), and Southern Plains Indian Museums. Her work is in Sacred Circles: 2000 Years of North American Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (1977). In 1985, she received a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship. Her works were in SIM’s 1987 SD Centennial celebration and in the film Dances with Wolves. Her works can be seen in The Indian Arts and Crafts Board, U.S. Department of the Interior, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. Blue Legs died in Rapid City, SD.

Sources:

Kristen G. Congdon, Kara Kelly Hallmark, Kara Kelley (2012). "Alice New Holy Blue Legs," American Folk Art: A Regional Reference. Vol. II (Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2012). Retrieved 7/14/2022, American Folk Art: A Regional Reference [2 volumes]: A Regional Reference - Kristin G. Congdon, Kara Kelley Hallmark - Google Books

Jack Marken, "Blue Legs (Alice New Holy, b. 1925)," in Bataille, Gretchen M.; Lisa, Laurie (eds.), Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary (2nd ed.) (New York, New York: Routledge, 2003), pp. 41–42. Retrieved 7/14/2022, Native American Women: A Biographical Dictionary - Google Books

Photo: NEA, 1985.  Public Domain.