Watahine, She Likes to Travel featuring Cynthia Thomas

September 16, 2024

RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA: The Sioux Indian Museum, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board, announces the opening of a new exhibition, Watahine – She Likes to Travel featuring Oneida artist Cynthia Thomas.  The exhibition will run from September 16 through December 16, 2024.  

Cynthia Thomas of Purple Pottery Productions is an enrolled member of the Oneida Nation. While at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay, she earned a B.A. in Art with a minor in Arts Communications. She later attained her Master of Arts degree in Secondary Education at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma. She is currently a high school Art teacher and is an active member of her family and her community.  Cynthia integrates her life experiences and extensive education into her artistic creations.

She took advantage of opportunities to work and learn beside others whom she states were teachers and mentors.  These people she credits for helping to mold her into the artisan she is today.  By using her skill, her cultural knowledge and often stoneware clay, she sets about telling a story such as her stoneware clay pieces Thanksgiving and The Great Feather Dance.  Cynthia states “When I work with clay, I have to let the clay speak to me, and the clay will create the vision.”

Cynthia's Oneida culture and traditions along with her family have always provided her with rich and deep inspiration.  Each sculptural piece references an event or a significant person from her life. She was raised following Oneida Longhouse tradition(s) and she incorporates parts of the ceremonies in some of her art. Her sculpted functional pottery depicts Oneida line designs using sgraffito techniques. Cynthia’s words speak to her personal sculpting process, “I start with a drawing and believe that if I can see it, I can build it.” Her preferred mediums are stoneware clay, underglazes and Potter’s Choice glazes. 

Cynthia has won awards in the Ohiyo Art Show and Market 2024, Eiteljorg Indian Market and Festival 2023, Woodland Indian Art Show and Market in 2015 and 2021, and Northern Woodland Indian Art Show and Market 2019.                               

Prices for the artwork can be obtained by contacting The Journey Museum at (605) 394-6923.  Purchase inquiries after the closing of the exhibition can be directed to the artist at pruplepotteryproductions@gmail.com.

Exhibition Brochure

The Sioux Indian Museum, managed by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Indian Arts and Crafts Board, is located in The Journey Museum, 222 New York Street, Rapid City, SD 57701.  For admission fees and hours of operation please visit https://www.doi.gov/iacb/our-museums/sioux or call (605) 394-6923.