Terrol Dew Johnson (born 1973) is a Tohono O'odham

basket A basket is a container that is traditionally constructed from stiff fibers and can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints, runners, and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehai ...

weaver, sculptor, and health advocate, who promotes Indigenous foods to prevent diabetes.

Background

Terrol Dew Johnson is Tohono O'odham from

Sells, Arizona , native_name_lang = ood , settlement_type = CDP , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_map = Pima County Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sells highl ...

. Johnson began weaving at the age of ten. "It was the only thing I was good at," the artist has been quoted as saying, "I've always been touchy-feely and good with my hands—I could do this with my hands, and it was fun!"Krol, Debra Utacia
The Art of Basketry: Weaving New Life into Old Forms.
''Native Peoples Magazine.'' 29 Dec 2005. Retrieved 21 April 2009. His parents, particularly his mother Betty Ann Pancho, actively encouraged his interest in basketry

Basketry

Johnson uses plant materials historically used by his tribe in his work in experimental weaves, forms, and techniques. One of his pieces, ''Quilt Basket'', is a virtuoso display of different weaving techniques, suspended from a single branch. His materials include

bear grass ''Xerophyllum tenax'' is a North American species of plants in the corn lily family. It is known by several common names, including bear grass, soap grass, quip-quip, and Indian basket grass. Ecology ''Xerophyllum tenax'' has flowers with si ...

yucca ''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flo ...

, devil's claw, and

gourd Gourds include the fruits of some flowering plant species in the family Cucurbitaceae, particularly ''Cucurbita'' and ''Lagenaria''. The term refers to a number of species and subspecies, many with hard shells, and some without. One of the earli ...

s. He is most known for his gourd baskets, in which pieces of the gourd are cut away and the negative space is filled with finely woven bear grass. In 2016, Johnson collaborated with the Aranda\Lasch architectural studio on an installation at the Tucson Museum of Contemporary Art entitled "Meeting the Clouds Halfway," which combined traditional designs using natural desert materials with computer-generated patterns. Johnson has won major top awards at

Santa Fe Indian Market The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwestern Association for ...

, O'odham Tash (the Tohono O'odham annual festival held in February), the Heard Museum Guild Fair, and the

Southwest Museum The Southwest Museum of the American Indian is a museum, library, and archive located in the Mt. Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, above the north-western bank of the Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County) canyon and stream. The muse ...

's Indian Art Fair.

Tohono O'odham Community Action

With his business partner Tristan Reader, Terrol Johnson founded Tohono O'odham Community Action (TOCA) in 1996. The nonprofit community development organization operates a basketry cooperative, farms, and sells indigenous foods. Tohono O'odham people have the highest rate of adult-onset diabetes of any ethnic group in the world.Fighting Diabetes with Native Foods.
''W. K. Kellogg Foundation.'' . Retrieved 21 April 2009. TOCA's Tohono O'odham Community Food System provided tribal members with aboriginal desert foods to combat the disease and promote health and sustainability. Foods provided by TOCA include

tepary bean ''Phaseolus acutifolius'', also known as the tepary bean, is a legume native to the southwestern United States and Mexico and has been grown there by the native peoples since pre-Columbian times. It is more drought-resistant than the common bea ...

mesquite Mesquite is a common name for several plants in the genus ''Prosopis'', which contains over 40 species of small leguminous trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. They have extremely long roots to seek water from very far under grou ...

beans, cholla (cactus) buds, chia seeds, squashes, acorns, and

saguaro cactus The saguaro (, ) (''Carnegiea gigantea'') is a tree-like cactus species in the monotypic genus ''Carnegiea'' that can grow to be over tall. It is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the Mexican state of Sonora, and the Whipple Mountains ...

fruit and syrup. TOCA has received widespread recognition. For his efforts with TOCA, Johnson was named one of the top ten community leaders in 1999 by the

Do Something DoSomething (also DoSomething.org) is a global nonprofit organization with the goal of motivating young people to make positive change both online and offline through campaigns. The organization's CEO is DeNora Getachew. History The organizatio ...

organization. The US President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities gave TOCA the Coming Up Taller Award in 2001. In 2002, both Johnson and Reader won the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

's Leadership for a Changing World Award. In 2011, Johnson was named a White House Food Security "Champion of Change" for his work renewing indigenous

food sovereignty Food sovereignty is a food system in which the people who produce, distribute, and consume food also control the mechanisms and policies of food production and distribution. This stands in contrast to the present corporate food regime, in which ...

"The Walk Home"

For two years, Terrol Dew Johnson traveled on a "journey of the heart," a 3000-mile walk across the country with his teenage relatives. Stopping at native communities to discuss health and culture, "The Walk Home" has celebrated aboriginal native foods and health. "The Walk Home" arrived home on March 20, 2010.

''Native Foodways Magazine''

In 2013, TOCA launched a national magazine covering the community organizing, culinary innovation, and cultural significance of Native American foods. Johnson is the publisher and a significant contributor to the production of the magazine. The magazine and its Facebook page have been central to the Native Food Sovereignty movement, of which Johnson is a part. He is a founding board member of the Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance (NAFSA).

References

External links

Terrol Dew Johnson
official site
Native Foodways Magazine Facebook pageNAFSA Facebook PageTOCA-Tohono O'odham Community ActionTerrol Dew Johnson White House "Champion of Change"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Terrol 1973 births Native American basket weavers Tohono O'odham people American health activists Living people 20th-century Native Americans 21st-century Native Americans Native American people from Arizona