Artwork copyright George Longfish. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2016.

Momma Wore the Morning Star #2, 1990

George Longfish
American Haudenosaunee Confederacy Seneca Tuscarora (born 1942)

Location: Shoreline Community College, Shoreline

About the Artwork

Momma Wore the Morning Star #2 by artist George Longfish honors Native American women and the female role in the Ghost Dance ceremony. This dance was the first time in Plains Society when women were given the honor of starting the ceremony. Longfish notes, "The Ghost Dance was an important event in history – it was the last final attempt to unite the Plains Tribes against on-coming whites." The dance was adopted from Nevada. Its performance was meant to produce an “earthquake” with the result that “The old days would be brought back and there would be peace."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Shoreline Community College.

About the Artist

Celebrated artist George Longfish (Seneca and Tuscarora) creates paintings and sculptures about the dynamic identities, cultures, and stories informing the Native American experience. He is Professor Emeritus of Native American Studies at University of California, Davis, where he taught for thirty years. He earned Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.