Grace, beauty and spirituality.
Words that best describe Jackie Bird, mother of four, hoop dance performer, fancy shawl dancer, designer, artist, singer, the list includes other gifts and talents too.  Despite her many accomplishments, spiritual growth is number one for her. Everything she does emerges from a deep love for her culture and people and because of a deep respect for the Creator.  She walks cautiously in this life and world because she is acutely aware of her responsibility to the people.

When I arrived in Bushnell, South Dakota, I drove down the same street I had driven before to visit artist JoAnne Bird.  Jackie, her daughter, lives in a trailer home next door.
For the interview we went into her mother’s house “because we won’t be disturbed there,” she said.  Although other family members were outside enjoying outdoor activities, JoAnne and Gordon were on the road traveling back from an art show in Colorado.  After I was seated, Jackie offered to show the outfits and coats that she had designed and made.  She went out the door but she was soon back with an armful of colorful garments. 

As she began laying them down on the floor in front of me, she began telling me about some of the designs and how she was inspired to create them.  One of the shawls was mainly a cornflower blue and a soft yellow.  The yellow was significant, she said, because it was a healing color.  She created this one specifically because her own mother was going through a serious illness.  It was a time that made her mother look back on her life, evaluate it and discover that her family meant more than anything else.  Jackie evaluated her own life, too. And that was when she began to “walk the good road,” she said, which meant seeking a deeper spirituality so she could help others.  In her quest she began to listen intently to American Indian elders wherever she was and to participate in ceremonies with them when possible.  Jackie’s traditional spirituality is nourished by the elders she spends time with-listening and learning from their wisdom and experiences.  From them she is learning to interpret her dreams and learning how to deal with everyday experiences.  “I absorb the good in life, I take the sweetness of life,” said Jackie.  Aware of the negative environment that surrounds her, she prefers to concentrate on the good things, to brush off the “negative energies.”