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Rita Chrisjohn Benson is shown demonstrating at the New York Folklore Society’s Gallery of New York Traditions in Schenectady, NY. She is teaching the process of making traditional Iroquois corn shuck dolls. Both of Rita’s parents are of Iroquois descent (Oneida), and she has worked for many years sharing Iroquois culture as a lecturer and teacher of Native American folk art to the people around the United States.

As a lecturer, she has presented at the Museum of Natural History in New York City, The Peabody Museum at Yale University, The New York State Museum, and The Boston Children’s Museum among others. As an artist, she works in many mediums, including cornhusk work (dolls, baskets, mats, masks, moccasins), elmbark items (quivers, trays, rattles, baskets, and ladles), beadwork, leatherwork, and items made from feathers such as earrings and medicine shields. Her work appears at the New York State Museum, Institute for American Indian Studies, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Iroquois Museum, Plymouth Plantation and many other museums across the country.

The gallery is made possible with the generous support of the
William Gundry Broughton Charitable Foundation

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