The Legacy of Bow Making

Season 3 • Episode 12

The Legacy of Bow Making

Chickasaw Culture Keepers

Wayne Scribner learned the art of traditional Chickasaw bow making over 30 years ago from an elder, but he didn't begin honing his craft in earnest until he realized as an older man that the ancient techniques were in danger of being lost. He says that while it is easy to shape wood into the form of a bow, the test of skill lies in honing the bow to one's individual needs. Scribner decided long ago not to sell the bows that he creates, and he distributes them only as gifts. He has created "birth bows" for his sons, the older of whom is already a talented archer, with their initials and dates of birth burned into the wood. Scribner marks all of his bows with his last initial, "S," underneath two crossed staves representing Oklahoma and the Chickasaw homeland east of the Mississippi River.

EPISODES

3m 30s

The Legacy of Bow Making

EPISODES

Pottery

Stickball Sticks

Beading

Regalia

Metalsmithing

Shell Carving

Weaving

Horticulture

Baskets

Traditional Foods

Quilting

Flutes

Beaded Collars

Drum Making

Storytelling

Bow Making

Brent Greenwood Art

Beaded Jewelry

Flint Knapping

Stomp Dancing

Beadwork

Turkey Calls

Traditional Stories: How Day and Night Were Divided

Woodturning

Bead Artisan

Textile Art

Quilt Making

Jewelry

The Legacy of Bow Making

Bead Artistry

Painting

Woven Mats

Metalworking

Photography

Pashofa

Deer Toe Shakers

Stickball Sticks

Shell Carving

Medicine Bags

Natural Dyes

Twinning

Bladesmithing

Fish Nets

Porcupine Quillwork

Pottery Burnishing

Shell Carving

Duck Decoys

Traditional Arrows

Fine Gourd Art

Traditional Flutes

Turtle Pottery

Turtle Shell Shakers

Pucker Toe Moccasins

Chunkey

Tattoos and War Paint

Leggings and Breechcloths

Hide Brain Tanning

River Cane Harvesting, Splitting and Peeling

Stories of Kullihoma

History of Beads