As of this week, fewer than 2,000 Americans remain who can read, write, and/or speak the native Cherokee language — words and syllables once fluently flowing all around west Kentucky, like the waters in the region.
For the past 15 years, Princeton’s Jannette Parent has been working to become one of them — while sharing her rooted heritage with others.
Saturday afternoon at the Murray Convention & Visitor’s Bureau in Calloway County, Parent was one of several artists of the Commonwealth showcasing their talents in a traveling show titled “Native Reflections: Visual Art by American Indians Living in Kentucky.”
An enrolled member of the Four Winds Tribe Louisiana Cherokee, Parent said she has “simply been called” to this kind of work, where her two acrylics — one of a bronzed hawk, the other her interpretation of the 2021 quad state tornado — have the Cherokee symbols and spellings in the lower left, in order to help onlookers associate the picture with the word.
Eventually, she wants to have a book of her paintings using all 85 of the Cherokee symbols — as well as a day planner/calendar in Cherokee — in order to further promote early and easy learning for students and adults.
And, oddly enough, this pursuit all started because she saw an ad in the paper for a Cherokee language class in Marion.
When she first moved to west Kentucky, Parent said she had no idea Caldwell County and Princeton were so close to the harrowing Trail of Tears — in essentially what was a death march for Native Americans who were forced off of their native lands, and relocated into Oklahoma courtesy of the Indian Removal Act of 1830 under President Andrew Jackson.
And while Kentucky and the federal government don’t specifically recognize major tribes in the Commonwealth’s history, Parent for the past two decades has paid visits to teach skills and history in a number of schools — from Caldwell to Pike counties — hoping to share different notions, ideas and stories through various art mediums.
Kentucky, she said, served as a home for many, many Native Americans.
Debi Danielson, Executive Director of the Murray Art Guild, played a critical role in assuring the show made a stop in west Kentucky — answering an all-call from the Kentucky Arts Council to host such history.
Marrying the state’s history with tourism, she said, is a no-brainer.
Parent can be reached through her website apparentlypainted.com, her email jannette@apparentlypainted.com, or by phone at (270) 871-8773.
Another south western Kentuckian, Christian County’s Linda Pierce, has two pieces in this show: “Striding In Strength & Peace” and “Red Beauty Unfolds.” Pierce is registered as native inspired through the Cherokee and the Chilluckittequaw.
Saturday’s show was made possible through a collaboration with the Kentucky Arts Council, the Kentucky Heritage Council, the Team Kentucky Tourism, Arts & Heritage Cabinet and the Kentucky Native American Heritage Commission, and those across the Commonwealth whose past is tinged with indigenous culture are invited to participate.
Its next stops include Berea, Corbin and Henderson, and it has previously resided in Frankfort, Somerset and Erlanger.
