14 Facts About Jeri Ah-be-hill

Jeri Ah-be-hill was a Kiowa fashion expert and art dealer.

Jeri Ah-be-hill owned and operated a trading post on the Wind River Indian Reservation for more than twenty years before moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico where she became the curator of the annual Native American Clothing Contest held at the Santa Fe Indian Market.

Jeri Ah-be-hill worked as a docent at both the Institute of American Indian Arts and the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian.

Jeri Ah-be-hill's mother was a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma, and her father was a member of the Comanche Nation.

Jeri Ah-be-hill was a great-niece of the noted Kiowa artist Silver Horn.

Jeri Ah-be-hill attended courses at the University of Oklahoma in the early 1950s, before moving to St Louis, Missouri, where she worked at McQuay-Norris.

In 1954, Fuller married Richard Greeves, an artist and the couple moved to Fort Washakie, Wyoming, where Jeri set up a studio on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Jeri Ah-be-hill began giving fashion shows to showcase various examples of tribal dress.

Jeri Ah-be-hill operated the trading post until her divorce in 1988 and then relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In 1990, she legally changed her name to Jeri Ah-be-hill and began working at Arrowsmith's Gallery, providing year-round fashion exhibitions.

Jeri Ah-be-hill did not see herself as an artist, but rather someone who had gained knowledge from buying for many years and who could educate others about Native American dance regalia and historical clothing.

Jeri Ah-be-hill was quick to point out the differences in Native fashions from more mainstream clothing.

When she was not involved with the Indian Market, Jeri Ah-be-hill traveled widely presenting educational talks on Native fashions both throughout the United States and internationally.

Jeri Ah-be-hill curated events such as the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History traveling exhibit on Silver Horn, which toured the country in 1995 and included pieces from her collection of her great-uncle, Silver Horn's work.