Petoskey quill worker receiving national art honor

PETOSKEY, Mich. (AP) – A Native American quill worker from Petoskey is receiving the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Yvonne Walker Keshick will be designated a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts on Wednesday at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Keshick’s work reflects natural and cultural images decorated with quills. Along with realistic designs of flora and fauna, her work includes depictions of cultural symbols and folk tales.

She teaches the art form and played a key role in the successful campaign in the 1980s to have her Odawa tribe recognized by the federal government.

Michigan State University Museum honored Keshick in 1982 with a Michigan Heritage Award. Her work is included in the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian.