Bond, just bond
How moms, daughters get away
Like many mothers and daughters, Jhane Myers and her girls find time together adds value beyond hours on the clock.
Myers, who lives outside Santa Fe with her three teenagers — two girls and a boy — directs them to activities that support their growing talents.
But also important to Myers, who is Comanche and Blackfeet, is finding ways to foster Native American traditions in their lives.
Myers says her grandparents raised her as part of the Comanche Nation, near Lawton, Okla. “They raised me traditionally. That’s why it’s instilled in me so much. We all dance. We all powwow together.”
The family also makes their powwow outfits, including all the intricate beading.
“Nobody eats at our dining room table. We sit around the table and talk while we work. You should see us today; we have two sewing machines set up. We have our sewing circle,” Myers explains.
Oldest daughter, Wakeah Jhane, 17, says she and her mother are both traditional buckskin dancers and have been winning honors as a mother-daughter team since she was 8 years old. “It’s so special to me. I’m a mommy’s girl. She’s my best friend; I tell her everything. She’s my hero. She’s a single mom. She did it all on her own, without help from anyone. It’s why we love her so.”
Myers says Wakeah does ledger painting, a traditional Indian art. “We create artwork together. She paints and I frame and mat.” Wakeah shows her art at the Canyon Road gallery of Ed Archie Noisecat, Myers’ husband.
Middle child Peshawn Bread, 16, says she loves beading. “When we sit down and bead together, we put all our time and love into the work. It’s my favorite thing: we’re all together. She really is my inspiration.”
Peshawn loves spoken word and filmmaking, Myers says, adding that son, Phillip, has acted in recent movies and studies acting and guitar.
“She coaches me on whatever I need to do,”says Phillip, 14.
Myers loves film and works in the Native Cinema Showcase for SWAIA. She is now promoting a new documentary, “LaDonna Harris: Indian 101,” a film about Harris, a Comanche political and social activist with international recognition, who is now passing on her traditional cultural and leadership values to a new generation.
“I take on projects like this, so I can be flexible and spend time with my kids. I’m so grateful my kids like to spend time with me. Not all kids like doing things with their family,” she says.
When they aren’t traveling the powwow trail or getting ready for it, the girls say they like shopping with their mom and riding horses together at a relative’s place near Tesuque.
Myers says she and her girls shop everywhere. When they shop for beads near home they look at Beadweaver on Old Santa Fe Trail and Glorianna’s Beads on West Marcy.
Here are a few other ways moms and daughters can get away and spend special time together.