Yona and Kay Welch
Yona and Kay specialize in Native American items.
YONA - BIO
STORYTELLING & WRITING
Stories existed long before we wrote them down. They don’t belong
to us but tell the truth as we have come to understand it.
When I was a boy, I listened to my father and his buddies telling stories on the back porch or at deer camp. Following that storytelling tradition I am a storyteller, a writer and an illustrator. I have written down many of traditional Native stories.
I have told traditional Native stories for the last twenty-some years in public & private schools, in Assisted Living Facilities, at Native gatherings, for Scouts & at Scout camps, for County park systems in Pinellas County, Florida.
I write stories patterned on the old story-telling formulas and idioms and in the past eight years or so, I have started to expand those stories into longer collections, novels & plays.
BOOKS available on AMAZON.COM
- Gentle Footsteps – a book of Indigenous meditations
- Christmas Carol Music arranged for the Traditional Indigenous Flute
- Hyms & Spirituals Music arranged for the Traditional Indigenous Flute
- American Folk Music arranged for the Traditional Indigenous Flute
- This is the Way This Story is Told – Native short stories about animals
- Native Earth - Native short stories about people
KAY WELCH - BIO
I move from medium to medium in what I create. I comfortably move from making leather bags to crocheting or to designing a piece of jewelry. I
don’t limit myself to one medium.
CROCHET
I learned the basics of crocheting when I was nine years old. Since then, I have added different stitches and techniques to that foundation. I have created designs for blankets and dolls for children, with those individual kids in mind.
More recently, the idea of designing and making Native-themed shawls has demanded more of my time and interest. I design shawls as bold representations of traditional ideas utilizing strong, spirited colors.
JEWELRY
I use the materials in my jewelry – the stones and the beads – based on how they feel to me and flow together. Each piece of jewelry I complete is unique and never repeated.
LEATHER
Leather and fur are living things. I believe that the animals’ spirits remain tied in some way to the leather. They help me create whatever it is that they want to become.
I do all my leatherwork by hand using techniques that would have been familiar to the generations of Native women I am descended from.
It is my hope that you walk in beauty.
PHOTOGRAPHY
My photography offers me the opportunity to become part of nature.
I love the peace and beauty that exists all around us if we choose to open our eyes.
I pray this peace is conveyed through my photography.
STORYTELLING
I also tell traditional stories as well as stories that my husband, Yona, and I have written in
various storytelling venues.
333 Sycamore Trail
Thornhill, TN 37881
423-733-4160