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Native American implement maker will speak in Talent By Tony Boom For the Tidings Jan 23, 2017 12:00 AM A A Native American Tom Smith will offer a talk this week on how he recreates the tools, implements and garb of life used by tribes before Europeans arrived and what he’s learned from the efforts. Smith will speak from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 24, in the Talent Historical Society Museum, 105 N. Market St. Smith was a Native American cultural interpreter for the Southern Oregon Historical Society, where he created items during the dozen years he worked at the museum in Jacksonville. The Sams Valley resident, 74, is descended from the eastern Cherokee on his father’s side. Local Native Americans showed Smith how objects were created here, but he’s studied all around the country, discovering others who work with old techniques. He’s created a variety of subjects including arrowheads, bows, war clubs, mortar and pestle, fireboards, headdresses, moccasins and drums. “A little bit of just about everything,” he said. “Everywhere I’ve ever been, we always find each other,” said Smith. “When they see that I have the ability, and most of all the sincerity to learn about it, folks seem to teach me something different.” Reading and studying have also helped shape his skills. “I can go to a museum and look at something and get a pretty good idea of how things are made,” said Smith. “Once in a while, you get lucky and someone lets you handle something.” Most of Smith's presentation will be show-and-tell, with explanations of the processes and tools needed to make an object. Creation of objects takes considerable time, but he will demonstrate use of a fireboard with a bone drill. “I take my time and do it as primitively as possible. I don’t use any electrical or power tools,” Smith explained. He relies on material he can gather locally. By using the local material and a basic approach, Smith said he feels he gains insight into how objects evolved originally. “If you learn about basic material, you can look at something and figure out how to use it,” said Smith. That may mean using yew wood instead of yellow locust or creating arrow points out of jasper rather than obsidian. The jasper arrow points are more durable, but they lack the extra-fine sharpness that can be obtained with obsidian. He does get obsidian brought to him by others from Glass Mountain in Northern California. Research shows that indigenous people of this area obtained obsidian from the same spot. With a deer antler, hammering stone and a leather pad, Smith can craft an obsidian arrowhead in 15 minutes with a little luck. “You get cut a lot,” said Smith. “There’s a lot of blood doing what I do.” Smith also does plaiting, or finger weaving, working with loose strands to create long sashes for ceremonial dance garb or to bind babies to backboards. As a baby, he went to California with his father during World War II. The family stayed, and he was raised in San Francisco before moving to Oregon in 1976. As a boy, Smith had an interest in art and was always looking at details. “It’s a way of life. I’ve got one foot in this life and one foot in whatever else I have to do,” said Smith. “For me, I feel like I have to do it. I’ve been around people who appreciate it.” There is no charge for the talk, which is part of the museum’s monthly Tuesday Evenings series. — Tony Boom is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected].