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Lorena LangleyMrs. Lorena Langley, a member of the Koasati Tribe, is a source of inspiration to her people and to all of the people who have come to know her. She and her family have perpetuated the language and arts of her tribe and have shared those creative skills with the rest of the world.
Mrs. Langley is a pine needle, white oak, and cane splint basketmaker. These are skills she learned from her people as she grew up. She and her family have raised these skills to the level of an art form. She is virtually the last known Koasati potter, and she is still producing the vessels that her family made to hold traditional sacred medicines, many of which could not be made or stored in metal containers. Few southeastern Native American tribes have retained so much of their cultural heritage as Mrs. Langley and her family. Mrs. Langley has not only maintained her own skills, but she has trained her children and grandchildren in the craft. Since very little of Native American culture has been well documented and recorded, many of the skills used by the various tribes have been lost as innovation and technology have made those skills appear to be less important for survival. Mrs. Langley has embraced her cultural heritage and attempted to share it with her family as well as with the rest of the world. Her efforts emphasize the social and cultural importance of those skills even as their survival benefits have decreased.
Mrs. Langley has won awards for her crafts at national shows like Red Earth in Oklahoma City, the New Orleans Jazz Festival, the Southeastern Indian Celebration in Columbus, Georgia, and many others. Her basketry and ceramics are to be seen in both public and private collections from Maine to Louisiana. She has demonstrated her skills for the National Park Service at Macon, Georgia, Jean Lafitte National Park, and for museums in Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas. She has also participated in the Folk Arts Apprenticeship programs in both Louisiana and Texas. She and her family are now nationally known, and Mrs. Langley has been inducted into the Louisiana Folklife Center's Hall of Master Folk Artists.