2024 Indiana Foodways

Dani Pikolakitisaata Tippmann

Miami Plant Tradition-Bearer

Myaamiaki / Miami Tribe of Oklahoma

Myaamionki (Fort Wayne, IN)

“Receiving a Taproot Fellowship will create big positive ripples for me and the Myaamia people into the future.”

Dani Pikolakitisaata Tippmann

Dani Tippman harvesting elm bark. Photo by Jon Kay.

Preparing corn for corn soup. Photo by Dani Tippmann.

Wild rice harvest. Photo by Larry Hedeen.

Ingrid Nicholson Dani Tippmann demonstrating Miami traditional plant use at Taste of the Arts in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Photo by Ingrid Nicholson.

Wild Rice being processed by Myaamia people. Photo by Mary Harter.

Dani Tippmann stitching together a bark basket from invasive buckthorn. Photo by Jon Kay.

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Storytelling, medicine, food & tech through plant wisdom

Dani Tippmann is a Miami Native American, descended from Takumwah, and Chief Richardville and is a citizen of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma.

Her knowledge of plants has been collected over the years from tribal members and elders, including her mother, aunts and elder tradition bearers. She speaks about traditional Native plants used in storytelling, food, medicine and technology and about traditional Myaamia lifeways, culture and history. Dani completed a Bachelor of General Studies at Indiana University in 2002 as an adult returning student.

Dani has been recognized by Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne and Traditional Arts Indiana as an Allen County Folklife Scholar for cultural leadership in 2022. She was honored as an Eiteljorg Museum of Native and Western Art – Artist in Residence in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2023. She was honored with the Indiana Heritage Fellowship Award from Traditional Arts Indiana.

She serves the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma as the Kiihkayonki Community Food Program Director in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area.

What does being a Taproot Fellow mean to you in your practice and community?

Modern Americans think of time as a river passing by. Myaamia people tend to think of time as a pond with rocks dropping in as events. Small pebbles create small ripples and effects, while large events create large ripples which affect us greatly throughout time. Forced removal from our homelands was a huge boulder, creating horrible ripples in our lives that are felt even today. Receiving a Taproot Fellowship will create big positive ripples for me and the Myaamia people into the future.

Being a Taproot Fellow is a prestigious honor for me because it honors the people who came before me, who honored our shared heritage of plant knowledge. It gives an opportunity to future Myaamiaki/Miami people to learn our shared culture for a bright future.

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TJ Sgwaayaans Young (Kaigani Haida)

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Van-Anh Vanessa Vo

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Reba Jo Teran (Eastern Shoshone)

Traditional Shoshone Saddle Maker & Bead Worker

Fort Washakie, WY

Raymond Wong

Traditional Chinese Lion Dancer & Martial Artist

Chinatown, Washington, DC

Ramón Rivera

Mariachi Musician & Educator

Mount Vernon, WA

Omar Santiago Fuentes

Puerto Rican Troubadour, Improviser of Verse & Décimas

Hatillo, Puerto Rico

Manuel A Delgado

Old-World Luthier

Nashville, TN

Lani Strong Hotch (Chilkat-Tlingit)

Chilkat/Ravenstail Weaver & Textile Artist

Klukwan, AK

Kewulay Kamara

Mandeng Finah Poet & Storyteller

Jackson Heights, NY

Karen Ann Hoffman (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin)

Haudenosaunee Raised Beadworker

Stevens Point, WI

Inna Kovtun

Ukrainian Ethno-Singer & Folklorist

Portland, OR

Hamid Al-Saadi

Iraqi Maqam Vocalist

Brooklyn, NY

Elena Terry (Ho-Chunk)

Indigenous Chef

Wisconsin Dells, WI

Dena Jennings

Affrolachian Musician & Culture Bearer

Nasons, VA

Chum Ngek

Cambodian Musician & Ritual Artist

Gaithersburg, MD

Billy Branch

Blues Musician

Chicago, IL

Chef BJ Dennis

Gullah Geechee Chef & Cultural Bearer

Charleston, SC

Brett Ratliff

Traditional Appalachian Musician

Stamping Ground, KY

Bruce Bradley

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Flint, MI

Annetta Koruh (Hopi)

Hopi Weaver

Village Bacavi, Third Mesa-Hopi land, Arizona (Hotevilla, AZ)

Alejandro López

Chicano Muralist

Santa Cruz, NM

Wayne Henderson

Appalachian Luthier & Musician

Mouth of Wilson, VA

Willard John

Moko Jumbie Stilt Dancer

St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

Veronica Castillo

Mexican Polychromatic Ceramicist

San Antonio, TX

Theresa Secord

Penobscot Basketmaker

Farmington, ME

Stan Rodriguez

Kumeyaay Culture Bearer

Santa Ysabel, CA

Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto

Japanese Koto Musician

Oakland, CA

Shaka Zulu

New Orleans Black Masking craftsman & stiltdancer

New Orleans, LA

Sami Abu Shumays

Arab Musician

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Roy & PJ Hirabayashi

Japanese American Taiko Musicians

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Pedro Adorno Irizarry

Puerto Rican theater artist and director

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Ofelia Esparza & Rosanna Esparza Ahrens

Chicana Altaristas

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Meklit Hadero

Ethio-Jazz Vocalist & Composer

San Francisco, CA

King Khazm

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Juan Longoria, Jr.

Conjunto Accordionist & Educator

Los Fresnos, TX

Jontavious Willis

Blues Musician

Luthersville, GA

Jesus M. Cepeda Brenes

Afro-Puerto Rican Musician & Folklorist

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Iris Brown

Puerto Rican Foodways & Agriculture

Philadelphia, PA

Gertie Lopez

Tohono O'odham Waila Musician

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Eva Ybarra

Conjunto Accordionist & Bandleader

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Dr. Dwayne Tomah

Passamaquoddy Language Keeper

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Deborah Gourneau

Anishinaabe (Chippewa) Culture Bearer

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