Bulgarians like Indians

Native American Artist Peter Johns:  Bulgarians Show Great Interest in American Indians

By Ivan DikovPeter Jones is a potter and sculptor who resides on the Cattaraugus Territory of the Seneca Nation of Indians in New York state. He studied under Hopi artist Otellie Loloma while attending the Institute of American Indian Art in New Mexico. While creating his pottery, Jones uses the traditional Iroquois method of pit firing, hand-built coiling and slab construction. Jones' works have won numerous awards, and are on exhibit at museums such as the Institute of American Indian Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona and in the Museum of Anthropology in Frankfurt, Germany to name a few.

Jones was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of State to visit Bulgaria as a Cultural Envoy. During his 10 day program from November 10-20, he has visited schools, universities and art centers in the cities of Etera, Gabrovo, Plovdiv, Sofia Troyan and Veliko Turnovo. He spoke to more than 500 students at the American College in Sofia, conducted a demonstration for ceramics students at the Art High School "Professor Nikolay Rainov" in Sofia, and gave a lection at Sofia University.

Jones participated in a public lecture and exhibition at the American Corner in the City Library of Sofia on November 17th along with members of the Eagle's Circle Society. The Eagle's Circle are Bulgarians who study and practice Native American arts including music, dress and dance.And:American Indians have been very popular in Bulgaria through a lot of novels about their life in the 19th century. Some of them might not be very realistic but all the way since the 1950s they made American Indians very popular in Bulgaria. Do you feel or hear about any of that?

I met the Eagle Circle Society based in Sofia. And we talked, and they did a performance of song and dance for us. I know about the other groups in other countries. The one in Germany is perhaps the largest that I know about. It is very interesting to see this group of dedicated people who are not really trying to be Indians but are just interested in our culture and our language.Comment:  For more on German hobbyists, see Germans Think They Own Native Culture and Germans = "Only Real Indians"?