hen Thomas Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark forward on their great expedition through the Louisiana Purchase in 1804-1806, none of the president’s four objectives included documenting arts and crafts. But, the maps and drawings created primarily by Clark in his detailed journal, with no formal training as a cartographer, are highly regarded for their beauty, elegance and precision, often created with crude instruments under the most difficult conditions.

Without Clark’s work, the expedition would not have fully captured the vastness and beauty of the American West and the Native American residents, and therefore, would not have been so pivotal in the expansion of the continental United States.

National Geographic Magazine estimates that more than 27 million people, mostly Americans, will travel all or parts of the 8,000-mile trail that crosses 11 states (Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington) from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean and back during the Bicentennial. And these travelers want to invest in meaningful souvenirs reflecting the time period and experiences of the Corps of Discovery.

An example of licensed merchandise: Lewis & clark expedition knife
		Silversmith Erhard Gross creates and sells replicas of the only surviving knife from the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Craft artists can reach new audience

Today’s craft artists look at the upcoming bicentennial event as both a historical passage and an opportunity to extend skills and sales to a yet untapped audience.
Diane Norton of Yankton, S.D., is the authorized representative of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission responsible for authorizing merchandise to carry the Bicentennial logo.

The Bicentennial logo seal of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Commission, which is responsible for authorizing official merchandise related to the expedition.

“We are the bigger picture and by attaching yourself to that bigger picture,” Norton says, “you will certainly have greater success in reaching an authentic and dedicated audience.”

Norton says consumers are assured of an authentic quality product when it contains the Bicentennial logo seal, an image that includes 13 stripes for the 13 colonies, a navigational compass and eagle feathers to symbolize the friendship with which Jefferson sent the Corps forward.

Applications for merchandise to be accepted as a Lewis and Clark product include three pages of guidelines designed to maintain high quality, to minimize clutter and to verify the historical accuracy of a product. Each product submitted for consideration must include a $300 application fee, which, along with 10 percent of the royalty fee, goes to a legacy fund for future Lewis and Clark celebratory events.

In addition, works by craft artists meeting the guidelines to use the logo are represented at various market events, in catalogues, on Web sites and at visitors’ centers along the Lewis and Clark Trail.

“Consumers of our product have the knowledge and satisfaction that they are getting an item as authentic as possible to the time period and experience of Lewis and Clark,” Norton says.

Authenticity requires research

Ann Hoffert of Carryington, N.D., is a floral artist who is also devoted to the history of her land and to the Native Americans of the region. Lewis and Clark spent the winter of 1804 at the Mandan villages, about two hours from Hoffert’s home, and documented much of the European’s first knowledge of Native Americans.

Hoffert spent two years researching the corns, beans, squash and other plants that the Mandans and the Corps ate, and then incorporated these into a decorative wreath.

This is the first time in her 12 years of business that she has done an interpretive work with seeds. “The endorsement of the Bicentennial council was important to me,” Hoffert says. “To me, this wreath is more than a souvenir. It’s authentic — it’s a piece of history.”

The sunburst wreath retails for $158 and takes Hoffert about two hours to assemble after all of the grains have been grown and dried. A tag on each wreath explains in detail the uses of the grains by the native tribes and the cottonwood twigs that symbolize the earth lodges built for the winter by the Corps members.

In addition to selling the wreaths on her Web site, Hoffert markets them through more than a dozen official Lewis and Clark interpretive centers throughout the west and on the official Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Web site.

The authenticity of the product is also a motivating factor for Erhard Gross, a silversmith from Astoria, Ore., who has created a replica of the Lewis and Clark Expedition knife. The original is the only known remaining knife from the expedition and was made during the difficult winter of 1805 as the Corps nearly starved waiting for the snow to melt in the Bitteroot Mountains of Idaho.

“Research is a lot of hard work for some people, but I have strong convictions that it behooves us as artists to thematically create a craft and fulfill our role as educators of the product,” Gross says. “Throughout man’s history, we have always celebrated the creation of art and craft to advance a society, and that’s what we should be doing with this Bicentennial celebration.”

Noting the year of the expedition, Gross created 1805 limited editions of the knife made of deer antler and worn file that sell for $645 each. It, too, sells on the Bicentennial Web site, at national signature event celebrations planned during the two-year Bicentennial and at museums around the country.

Gross also has a booth at the Journey’s End National Lewis and Clark Art Exhibition through May at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Ore.

Non-artists also making works

One of the stuffed prairie dogs created in Lynch, Neb., and marketed to visitors to Lewis and Clark sites.

Not all craft items created for the bicentennial have the sole purpose of generating personal income for a craft artist. The people of tiny Lynch, Neb., population 269, realized that on Sept. 7, 1804, the Corps documented seeing their first prairie dog.

At the time, they called them barking squirrels and because one of the president’s directives was to document wildlife of the region, the Corps spent an entire day flushing water down a prairie dog hole to capture the critter and send it alive back to the President. The stuffed animal is now on display at the Smithsonian.

However, if you wanted to buy a stuffed prairie dog today, none are available. Neither are there any patterns to make one. So a volunteer sewing crew, coordinated by home economics teacher Joan Faith, designed a pattern and spends at least two afternoons a week making prairie dogs. They sell for $15 at area gift shops and visitors centers with proceeds supporting a scenic overlook on the Missouri River near Lynch. So far, about $5,000 has been raised. A tag on the stuffed animal’s neck tells the history of the prairie dog as documented in the Lewis and Clark journals.

Steven McCracken, a bead artist and silversmith in Billings, Mont., believes that the enthusiasm over the Lewis and Clark bicentennial should be the beginning of a great opportunity for craft artists of all media to bring history alive.

McCracken grew up hunting and trapping along the Yellowstone River in Montana and the history of the area has become his passion. In addition to creating beaded items from the Lewis and Clark period, McCracken also makes silver pins endorsed by the Bicentennial Commission. The pins feature an “Explore and Discover Canoe,” a muzzleloader pistol, a tomahawk, and “Seaman,” the Newfoundland dog that accompanied Lewis on the journey. They sell for $15 to $45 and are juried into various museums throughout the West

“Through our work, we are making history by accurately recreating a historic product,” McCracken says. “The Lewis and Clark Bicentennial should be the beginning of telling American history through art, continuing with the fur traders, the Indian removal, the wagon trains, gold rushes and cattle drives.”

McCracken believes that craft artists can and should be taken seriously as historians, and in so doing, elevate the level of the profession to one of educator as well as artist.

Diana Lambdin Meyer is a Parkville, Mo.-based free-lance writer.