Friends School Librarian and K-5 Technology Teacher, deana harragarra waters, shares a bit about her Otoe-Misouria/Kiowa heritage and the recent art exhibit featuring her fiber art which honors her heritage and grandfather, Moses Harragarra.  

My Otoe people, in our long migration across this continent, once called the land now known as Nebraska home. The word Nebraska itself comes from our Otoe language — nyi bráthge — meaning “flat water.” The Platte River still carries that name.

Today, the city of Lincoln acknowledges that it was founded in 1856 upon the homelands and villages of the Otoe-Missouria and other Indigenous peoples of this region. Each year, on September 21st, Lincoln observes Otoe-Missouria Day, a gesture of remembrance and recognition on the land that still remembers us.

In 2024, I was honored to be chosen as one of twenty-four Otoe artists for a historic exhibition that tells the story of our people, supported by the Mellon Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art. My daughter’s art and my brother’s photography were also part of that exhibition, and I felt pride knowing that our family could help bring the Otoe story forward through our own creative talent.

It is the creativity of my Otoe people that sustains us, that gives breath to memory and brings voice back to one of our homelands, even if only for a brief moment in time. The Otoe are not a well-known tribe, but that does not matter when we return to the land we once called our home.  In those moments, recognition comes not from others, but from the land itself — that still knows our name.  Returning here reminds me of how much of this country we once called home and of the deep, unbroken connection that endures, even after generations have passed.

I am an enrolled member of the Otoe Tribe, Buffalo Clan, and also identify as Kiowa. My life is profoundly shaped by the cherished memories of my four full-blooded grandparents: Lewis and Richenda Toyebo, and Moses and Mary Harragarra, especially those tied to family history, hope, and love.

My fiber art piece, Grandpa Mose: Hereditary Chief and Honorary Colonel, draws inspiration from a 1959 photograph and story of my grandfather in Oklahoma Today magazine. I carefully selected fabrics of silk dupioni and organic cottons that honor my Otoe heritage. The portrait is framed by my family’s traditional Otoe ribbonwork designs.

This artwork is a tribute to George Moses Harragarra, who, as a young Otoe boy, journeyed from Nebraska to Oklahoma. It celebrates his remarkable leadership among both his Otoe-Missouria people and the state of Oklahoma. To me, he was simply “Grandpa Mose,” who, due to his hearing challenges, called me “Die-nah.”  I am the family custodian of his 1857 James Buchanan Silver Peace Medal, a symbol of his Otoe Chief status. I wore this significant peace medal during my time as the first Miss Indian Oklahoma and later as Miss Indian America XXII.

My grandfather’s life journey continues to guide me and fuels my hopes for my own grandchildren. My husband, Rick Waters, and I are blessed with our two daughters and their spouses, Regina and Walter, and Kelly and Paul, and our much-loved grandchildren: Ben, Stella, Beau, River, and Bear.  My fiber art has been exhibited at numerous institutions, including the Institute of American Indian Arts, the Southern Plains Museum, the Denver Art Museum, Michigan State University, the National Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery, and SAGE Community Arts, with many works now in their permanent collections.

Reflections of Our People, Our Ways, Our Land is on display at the Great Plains Art Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, from September 5 until December 20, 2025.