{"id":1129,"date":"2019-11-14T14:47:23","date_gmt":"2019-11-14T14:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.pafaarchives.org\/blog\/?p=1129"},"modified":"2021-05-06T14:05:54","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T14:05:54","slug":"meet-richenda-rhoden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.pafaarchives.org\/blog\/collection\/meet-richenda-rhoden\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Richenda Rhoden!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Contributed by Jahna Auerbach, Assistant Archivist for the John Rhoden papers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richenda<\/a> Rhoden (1917-2016), born Richenda Phillips, was a Native American woman from the Cherokee and Menominee tribes. She was given the Menominee name Paytoemahtamo at birth, which means \u201cGreat Woman\u201d. Throughout her life, Richenda would come to exemplify this apt title. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Richenda painting, Undated.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Richenda studied anthropology at the University of Washington in Seattle. While she was a student, she met her first husband, Laurence Kay, who she married in the early 1940s. Their correspondence during World War II clearly shows their deep bond and love for each other. However, Laurence did not come home from WWII; he was killed while on a ship in Northern Africa on November 27, 1943. In Richenda\u2019s papers, there are many letters to her regarding to her husband\u2019s whereabouts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Laurence\u2019s death, Richenda moved to New York City\nto start anew, where she became a hat model. During this time, Richenda\nenrolled in Columbia University to study Asian Art. At Columbia, Richenda met\nJohn Rhoden. They were married in Rome 1954, while John was studying at the\nAmerican Academy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Portrait of a young Richenda, undated. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In 1960 the Rhodens bought their house on 23 Cranberry\nStreet, Brooklyn, New York. It was originally a livery stable, and the Rhodens\npoured all of their energy into renovating it. The house was complete with an\nelevator, and indoor and outdoor garden, and studio space. Inside their house\nwas filled with their art. To get to know her neighbors, Richenda set up a\nlittle table selling crafts. This eventually turned into the Cranberry Street\nfestival and prompted Richenda to found the Cranberry Street Association.\nRichenda loved Cranberry Street and saw the neighborhood as her extended\nfamily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During\nthe 1950s and 1960s, Richenda traveled all over the world with John. Because\nshe was also a gifted artist, she was featured in many international news articles\nand was particularly well-covered by the German press. One article in\nparticular wrote about her background and her artistic inspiration. The article\ntalks about her connection to animals as a Native American. She is quoted\nsaying that \u201cI have always been a dreamer\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Tribute to Chagall, undated.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Richenda\nwas an artist like John, but instead of sculpting she spent her days painting.\nShe was inspired by folklore and mythology. Many of her works picture Native\nAmericans as well as animals, nature and sacred geometry. While abroad with\nJohn, Richenda would take photographs of the people she met and collect their\nstories. She was also influenced by Marc Chagall, evidenced by one of her own\npaintings titled \u201cTribute to Chagall\u201d. Over the years Richenda\u2019s work\nfluctuated from being figure-based to being more abstract. That said, Richenda\u2019s\nbeautiful and powerful use of color remained present in her work throughout her\nlife.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richenda\nlived to be 99 years old. She painted almost everyday and due to limited\nmobility at the end of her life, she converted the freight elevator in her\nhouse into her studio. After she passed, Richenda had a retrospective at\nSoloway in Brooklyn New York, curated by Emily Weiner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • \"\"
    Richenda on vacation, undated.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li>
  • \"\"
    Christmas with the Rhoden’s, 1984.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Richenda\u2019s papers are only a small part of the John Rhoden Papers, but her presence is strong. From photos, it is easy to glean her personality. She loved her rooftop garden, traveling, and being surrounded by people and animals. Richenda was a radical woman of her time and an amazing artist in her own right. We hope through John\u2019s papers we are also able to share Richenda\u2019s story with the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This project,\u00a0Rediscovering John W. Rhoden: Processing, Cataloging, Rehousing, and Digitizing the John W. Rhoden papers<\/em>, is funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    ABOUT THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Contributed by Jahna Auerbach, Assistant Archivist for the John Rhoden papers Richenda Rhoden (1917-2016), born Richenda Phillips, was a Native American woman from the Cherokee and Menominee tribes. She was given the Menominee name Paytoemahtamo at birth, which means \u201cGreat Woman\u201d. Throughout her life, Richenda would come to exemplify this apt title. Richenda studied anthropology […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[31,30,29],"class_list":["post-1129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collection","category-grant","tag-johnrhoden","tag-neh","tag-rhoden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.pafaarchives.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.pafaarchives.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.pafaarchives.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.pafaarchives.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.pafaarchives.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1129"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blog.pafaarchives.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1678,"href":"https:\/\/blog.pafaarchives.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions\/1678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.pafaarchives.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.pafaarchives.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.pafaarchives.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}