ART SOCIAL: INDIGENOUS-INSPIRED BEADED EARRING WORKSHOP

Denise “Weetahmoe” Silva-Dennis (Shinnecock/Hassanamisco-Nipmuc) is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator living on the Shinnecock Nation in Southampton, New York. Denise retired from the Southampton School District in 2016 after a 21-year teaching career, K-12, as an art teacher, safety-net teacher, and Resource Room teacher. Global Neighborhood, in conjunction with Southampton Intermediate School, selected Denise to travel to Australia (Brisbane and Yeppoon) in 2006 for a two-week special art assignment for students to learn about Native American Medicine Wheel teachings. Denise emerged from retirement and has been the Workshop Coordinator at Ma’s House & BIPOC Studio, Inc. since 2022. She is a board member of several non-profits, including Niamuck Land Trust, Peconic Land Trust, Shinnecock Kelp Farmers, and Hamptons Community Outreach.

Denise graduated from Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, with a BA Degree in Studio Art with honors. Two of Denise’s paintings were selected for the exhibit, “In Beauty It Has Begun…” sponsored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institute in 1972. She also won the Parrish Art Museum’s Judge’s Award in the painting category when she was a student at Southampton High School. For the 2022 Parrish Road Show, the Parrish Art Museum selected Denise to create an outdoor, 2-story high mural at the Sisters of St. Joseph Villa in Hampton Bays, New York called “Wunne Ohke-The Return to Good Ground.” 

Denise’s paintings, “Not The Last of The Tenacious Shinnecock Indians,” and “Land Back Butter,” have been shown at Teatro Yerbabruja in Bay Shore, and at the Southampton Art Center’s “Outcropping” (curated by her son, Jeremy Dennis) and at Ma’s House BIPOC Art Studio/Residency, also founded by Jeremy Dennis. Donna Weng Friedman, in collaboration with the National Women’s History Museum in Washington, D.C., featured Denise’s story in the “Heritage and Harmony: Her Art, Her Choice,” a video series designed and dedicated to inspiring and empowering school-aged girls of color. Denise’s painting,  “Traveling to the North in a Dugout,” was in the 2022 Long Island Museum in Stony Brook exhibition, "Two Centuries of Long Island Women Artists, 1800-2000." Denise’s painting, “Nothing Good Comes Easy,”-Randy Conquest, was on display at the Southampton African American Museum’s “BIPOC EXPERIENCE” curated by Jeremy Dennis and founded by Executive Director, Brenda Simmons. On June 3, 2022, Denise presented her work and passions at the Parrish Art Museum’s “Pecha Kucha…20 images in 20 seconds!” She shares her story via Nancy Solomon’s Long Island Traditions: Long Island Diversity Back Story.” In addition, Denise received the 2022 Kweli Color of Children’s Literature Conference Inaugural Legacy Award, named in honor of the late Floyd Cooper (Muskogee Creek), the celebrated children’s book author /illustrator of the book, Juneteenth. Denise taught children from the Shinnecock Boys and Girls Club how to make talking sticks which were featured on the HBO Max Episode 5405, Sesame Street segment titled, “A is for Arts and Crafts,” in 2023.  In recognition of 2024, Women's History Month, two of Denise's paintings were featured at Gracie Mansion in New York City. On August 18th, 2024, Denise did a talk at  The Church, Sag Harbor Art Venue on August 18th, 2024  for “Insight Sunday” to speak about her painting, “Land Back Butter,” which was in their exhibition, “Are You Joking? Women and Humor,” until September 2nd, 2024. Denise conducted a wampum bracelet workshop at the National Museum of the American Indian in NYC on October 5th, 2024, as a hands-on activity for local teachers to explore new ways of teaching and learning about Native New York.