Stickball Sticks

Season 4 • Episode 8

Chickasaw Culture Keepers

Making stickball sticks is humbling for Chickasaw citizen Clovis Hamilton. "You appreciate your sticks a lot more when you make them because of the time and effort that you put into them," says the stickball stick artisan. "You can't just go to the store and buy these." Clovis started making stickball sticks because he couldn't find any that were left-handed, and as a left-handed person, he decided to try and make his own. He learned his craft from a variety of stick makers, honing his skills. Now, as a veteran craftsman, Clovis knows that it's an art that requires patience because you may not always get a pair of sticks out of it, so you have to be consistent and you have to be determined. "I get to a point where I think really like them and I think they're really good, and then I get to a point where I start seeing faults that I don't like. I think that's the perfectionist in me," he says. "You don't ever want to make a perfect pair because once you do, you'll quit making them." Although the game and the rules have changed over generations, it still brings families together, and it's important to pass the art of making stickball sticks down. "I have a daughter now. She's 13 months old," Clovis says. "I hope whenever she gets old enough, she wants to play."

EPISODES

3m 30s

Stickball Sticks

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