Kelly Church (Grand Traverse Band of Chippewa and Ottawa), Hopkins, Michigan

Biography

Kelly Church, a fifth generation weaver, did not start weaving until she was in her early 30s, learning mainly from her father Bill Church and her cousin, John Pigeon. Having mastered the form, she taught her daughter Cherish Parrish, with whom she now enjoys weaving. Kelly received a Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Award. In 2006 Kelly organized a symposium for black ash weavers on the destruction caused by the Emerald Ash Borer, as part of an outreach program for the National Museum of the American Indian. Kelly was a participant in the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.