Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katherine Dickerson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Katherine thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I live in St Louis, Missouri. My tribe is in Carnegie, Oklahoma, and it is challenging to get from point A to point B sometimes, like the car breaking down or lack of funds for a 10-hour trip. I was missing the very things that calm me down, energize me, and memories. The first scent I blended oils for was sweat lodge sage, found to be in the region of southwestern Oklahoma. The smell of this plant reminded me of my past in a good way, like smells you remember as a child, like crayons, wet leaves, etc., hence the name of the Company Essence of the Plains.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Katherine (Kathy) Dickerson. Tahpomah is my Kiowa name. I am a member of the Kiowa Tribe, located in Oklahoma. Some of my lineages go back to my great-grandfather, Haungooah Silverhorn, who was famous for ledger drawings. I am also a descendant of Tongkeamha and Stumblingbear. Dohausan, Haungooah’s father, was the principal chief of the Kiowa tribe.

My grandpa, James Silverhorn, was also a craftsman and a medicine man (road-man /peyote man). Along with the artists Silverhorn and James Silverhorn, James’s brother, Dutch Silverhorn, was a famous silversmith. My great uncle Max Silverhorn was noted for beading and feather work, along with his son Charles Silverhorn who have helped me become the artist I am today.

Due to what we believe to be one of the government’s ways to commit genocide among the American Indian Tribes,  the Relocation Act of 1956, where the Government allocated tribal members money to prosper in an area such as St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas city.  I was born in St. Louis, City hospital in 1963, I was a product of the times. My mom Phyllis Silverhorn Calcaterra a full blooded Kiowa woman that needed to be back among her family and Tribe, I was raised going between St. Louis and my tribal lands in Oklahoma. I have spent my entire life learning the crafts, culture, and history of the Kiowa tribe from family and other Kiowa tribal members, spending many hours in the backroom of museums that had plains Indian especially Kiowa artifacts. I attended St Ambrose grade school in the Latin culture, to St Anthonys of Padua High school, and now I am attending online courses to obtain a degree in American Indian studies from Bacone College, formerly Bacone Indian University of 1880 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. All this gave me the tools needed to become the talented artist, lecturer, Consultant, business owner and ON-AIR personality. I still brain tan my own hides of the techniques used by the Kiowa women in the 1800’s, sew with sinew as they did in the past, it helps me keep much of my arts and crafts as they were back in the 1800s and before.

My Radio Program is called Essence of the Tribes and airs every Tuesday from 7 pm to 9 pm on KDHX 88.1fm St. Louis (or www.kdhx.org Livestream or archived on my show page). I go by my 1996 online handle of KiowaKat (Kiowa my tribe and Kat for Kathy) on my radio show. I volunteer my time to this radio station with my show that is each week for 2 hours, I bring you the sounds of the American Indian music traditional and contemporary, brought to you by Federal recognized tribal members.

I am a lecturer/ demonstrator,
I use the hands-on approach most often. Letting all come up to see and feel the hides and items I use and make, my hides are made the way my ancestors did back in the 1800’s and before, meaning I still brain tan my hides, create my own rawhide, and sew with sinew. The bags, belts, beaded fans, beaded gourds, and footwear that I make are used in my presentations. I do enjoy keeping the Kiowa traditions alive, giving demonstrations and lectures in school and other gatherings ever since I attended grade school myself. My works have taken me to demonstrate on a few occasions for places such as the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indians, being a resident artist for the Eiteljorg Museum, shows at Southern Plains Museum and many other museums in the U.S., have also given lectures to all levels of school, from k- college Universities such as Washington University, Perdue and IUPUI, to name just a fewI have .

At present, I have since taken my love of my culture, my artwork, and 

 created my own Woman-owned/Minority business called Essence of the Plains. My company sells my and other Federally recognized American Indian Artists and craftsmen’s works. It seems to be a bit unique in being very much in support of the American Indian Artists.  2022 my tribe honored me by certifying me as a teacher of Kiowa language and culture. 

I have a loving and supporting husband of over 30 years Marvin Dickerson, 5 children and 10 grandchildren. Spending most of my summers and quite a bit of the other season around my Kiowa family and other tribal members made me fully aware of my tribal blood, culture, religion, and art. This was a two-edged sword though. My culture swept me up from my earliest days. I fell in love with being Kiowa and all that this entails.

Being raised and going to my first 8 years of school (Catholic) in a very proud Italian community in St. Louis, I was as aware of being different than everyone else as the kids and teachers around me were. The folks around me were mostly good-hearted though being different was always in the background. Some of my teachers like to use words that seared into my brain (savages and heathens to put a name to a couple) while trying to convert me from my “pagan“ beliefs and become a good catholic girl.These things kept my childhood at a constant spin. It felt very much like I was being pulled apart in my mind. My love of my Kiowa family helped me through some very trying times. My high school years we not much different though spent at a different Catholic high school than most of my grade school classmates. I entered my first craft contest when I was seventeen. It was run by a group of non-Indian hobbyists who decided my work was so good that my adopted father must have done the work for me, basically calling me a fraud, then disqualified my entry. I was shocked as I went on, to find myself always up against non-Indians who made claims to a distant ancestor. Surprised to find people claiming to be American Indian just for profit hurt me deeply.

I knew a great many Indian artists that were excellent yet starving as they were fairly pushed aside as the much louder non-Indians hawked their wares with fake claims to being citizens of one tribe or another. It became obvious that we, the first people, were being overlooked, unimportant, even a burden. In places with little or no American Indian communities near them, we had already died off. When I read The Indian Arts and Crafts Act (Act) of 1990, I found my voice. I started standing up against Cultural Appropriation, truth in advertising. I found a great deal of anger from many of those that claimed to be American Indian without any proof of such.

My eyes were further opened when I found there to be quite a few American Indians that made their money using these cultural appropriators. Knowing why I started using my voice, I took the criticisms and the name-calling in stride. To this day, I stand for the rights of the American Indians to be heard and not forgotten regardless of those that would like to silence me.

My decision to become a full-time artist has led me down many paths. First and foremost, I am a Kiowa Artists, known for my Brain tanned hides, my 1800’s style arts and crafts, mainly my boots, leggings, moccasins, along with my beadwork.

This and my knowledge of culture have opened doors such as Lecturer, Demonstrator, Organizer, Radio programmer and on-air personality, Company owner, Activist, and Advocate. I am most proud of carrying on our traditions, feeling that I have added my voice to the unheard so maybe someday we will no longer be overlooked.

While what I do does seem to set me apart from others, there are many more like me out there, without maybe the support and drive to push forward as hard as it takes. Whatever the reason, I can only hope those of us with any voice will help pave the way for the rest.
No matter what culture or race you come from, learn as much as you can from your elders. Learn the stories, the folklore, the language of your ancestors if you can, your family history. this gives you plenty of tools to use no matter what road you decide to take for your future. And once you sure of what direction you want, be determined and don’t let things take your eyes off the prize.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Fortunately, it did not cost a lot to start up my business. My husband had the funds for the supplies I needed to begin our journey of owning a business, I filed all paperwork for licenses and certificates that were needed to run a small business and become Minority and Women Enterprise, this usually takes lawyer but I learned the process that it took to become a small business.

Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?

The company is a vendor that sets up the tent and sells products. Well, I thought to take the business another step. The company now sells in area gift shops, and along with my Kiowa tribe in Oklahoma they sells my products in their gift shop. I took the business to a convention for wholesalers In Las Vegas. This was a move of thinking the company could bring in more clients. Long story short, I had a product to sell, but this wasn’t the place for resale. We were to make orders and then build clientele. The company had to make at least table fee to break even in this adventure. On day two, a prospect came to the table and asked where I was from in Missouri. He was unfamiliar with Lemay, which is on the outskirt of St Louis city. I said, St Louis County Lemay. He was so happy, he asked me all about my product, he was satisfied with the product enough to make an order to being sold at the St Louis Zoo gift shop. We had to drive far and make this gamble only to make the best business deal the business has ever seen.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kiowakat.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tahpomah
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/groups/136585287288115 https://kdhx.org/archive/archive_gen.php?show=essenceofthetribes https://essence-of-the-plains.square.site/s/shop?fbclid=IwAR3pSgW1Oa-lnI81slnuS_YVrIOkHlhwZNnMrjQOCP0Byhdi0KYU72K0r0c