Ardina Moore (née Revard, December 1, 1930 – April 19, 2022) was a

Quapaw The Quapaw ( , Quapaw language, Quapaw: ) or Arkansas, officially the Quapaw Nation, is a List of federally recognized tribes in the United States, U.S. federally recognized tribe comprising about 6,000 citizens. Also known as the Ogáxpa or � ...

/ Osage

Native American Native Americans or Native American usually refers to Native Americans in the United States. Related terms and peoples include: Ethnic groups * Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the pre-Columbian peoples of North, South, and Central America ...

from

Miami, Oklahoma Miami ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States, founded in 1891. Lead and zinc mining were established by 1918, causing the area's economy to boom. This area was part of Indian Territory. Miami is the capit ...

. A

Quapaw language Quapaw, or Arkansas, is a Siouan language of the Quapaw people, originally from a region in present-day Arkansas. It is now spoken in Oklahoma. It is similar to the other Dhegihan languages: Kansa, Omaha, Osage and Ponca. Written document ...

speaker, she taught the language to some tribal members. Moore was a fashion designer and regalia-maker, who founded an Indian apparel business, Buffalo Sun, in

, in 1983. She has received numerous awards for her fashion designs, has served in multiple leadership positions within the Quapaw Tribe of Indians, and was inducted into the

Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame was established in 1982 by Oklahoma Governor George Nigh "to honor Oklahoma women who are pioneers in their field or in a project that benefits Oklahoma; who have made a significant contribution to the State of Oklaho ...

Early life

Ardina Revard was born on December 1, 1930, in

Belton, Texas Belton is a city in the U.S. state of Texas. Belton is the county seat of Bell County, Texas, Bell County and is the fifth largest city in the Killeen – Temple – Fort Hood metropolitan area, Killeen-Temple metropolitan area. In 2020, the popu ...

. Her father was James Osage "Jimmie" Revard (Osage), founder of the band the Oklahoma Playboys, and her mother was Martha Dora Griffin (Quapaw), who died when Revard was about seven years old. Her maternal grandparents were Minnie and Chief Victor Griffin, the last Quapaw chief before the tribe formed a business committee. Revard grew up hearing both English and Quapaw on the farm of Chief Griffin known as "Devil's Promenade" in northeastern Oklahoma. After finishing high school, Revard enrolled at

Northeastern State University Northeastern State University (NSU) is a public university with its main campus in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The university also has two other campuses in Muskogee and Broken Arrow as well as online. Northeastern is the oldest institution of hig ...

, graduating in 1957.

Early career

Moore began her teaching career, first teaching high school health and physical education. Then she taught American Indian history and genealogy at

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO) is a Public college, public community college in Miami, Oklahoma. Established as the Miami School of Mines in 1919, NEO has an enrollment of approximately two thousand students. The Golden Norsemen is th ...

(NEO) in

. Between 1967 and 1978, she lived in Montana, but returned to Oklahoma with her family and discovered that the Quapaw language was endangered. She joined the Community Service Program, at NEO and began teaching evening language classes to preserve the Quapaw language, creating her own workbooks and tapes, as she had no dictionaries or textbooks on the language.

Artistic career

Moore, who had been making Native American fashions for her daughters to wear at

powwows A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Inaugurated in 1923, powwows today are an opportunity for Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their ...

, Indian dances or other functions, began commercially marketing Indian apparel in 1983. The company Buffalo Sun was located in Miami, Oklahoma, where Moore lived and designed the clothing. She also cut patterns which Native women sewed from their homes. The company made inner and outer wear as well as accessories, with traditional and contemporary fashions. Some were simple designs and others feature intricate

beadwork Beadwork is the art or craft of attaching beads to one another by stringing them onto a thread or thin wire with a sewing or beading needle or sewing them to cloth. Beads are produced in a diverse range of materials, shapes, and sizes, and vary ...

and

ribbonwork Ribbon work is an appliqué technique for clothing and dance regalia among Prairie and Great Lakes indigenous peoples. Description The ribbons are layered on top of each other with pieces cut out to create optically active designs from both posi ...

elements. She toured with her fashions throughout Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and to both coasts, participating in the

Powhatan Renape Nation The Powhatan Renape Nation is a state recognized tribe in New Jersey. It is not a federally recognized American Indian tribe. Members are concentrated in South Jersey and the Philadelphia metropolitan area. History The Powhatan Renape Nation was ...

fashion show in Pennsylvania and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

where fashion shows were held at the American Cultural Center and International Trade Center.

Language and cultural preservation efforts

From her beginning evening classes Moore expanded her program to save the Quapaw language to two series of classes, which span over an eight-week period and were held annually at the Quapaw Tribal Museum. The tribe also holds an annual Youth Language Camp, as well as conferences with the Dhegiha Language Conference to preserve and teach the Quapaw language and its closely related tongues, Osage and

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

. In addition to her efforts to save the Quapaw language, Moore served as the tribe's

powwow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native Americans in the United States, Native American and First Nations in Canada, First Nations communities. Inaugurated in 1923, powwows today are an opportunity fo ...

committee secretary/treasurer, tribal historian, chair of the tribe's Cultural Committee, and as an elected member of the Tribal Business Committee.

Awards and honors

Moore received many awards and honors over her career. She won first place in the

Santa Fe Indian Market The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwestern Association for ...

fashion show twice, was awarded best in her division at the

Eiteljorg Museum The Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art is an art museum in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The Eiteljorg houses an extensive collection of visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas as well as Western Amer ...

's annual Indian Market in Indianapolis, was honored by the

Heard Museum The Heard Museum is a private, not-for-profit museum in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. It presents the stories of American Indian people from a first-person perspective, as well as exhibitio ...

of Phoenix in 2003, and was featured in an

Oklahoma Educational Television Authority The Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (OETA) is a network of PBS member television stations serving the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The authority operates as a statutory corporation that holds the broadcast license, licenses for all of ...

special in 2006. In 2011, she was inducted into the

Death

Moore died on April 19, 2022, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the age of 91.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Ardina 1930 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American educators 20th-century American textile artists 20th-century American women educators 20th-century Native American artists 20th-century Native American women 20th-century American women textile artists 21st-century American educators 21st-century American textile artists 21st-century Native American artists 21st-century Native American women 21st-century American women textile artists American fashion designers American women fashion designers Artists from Oklahoma Educators from Texas Indigenous fashion designers of the Americas Native American textile artists Native American women artists Northeastern State University alumni Osage people People from Miami, Oklahoma Quapaw people Textile artists from Oklahoma