Page 8 - A Beading Heart

ChaptEr 1
expreSSing CuLture,
tHe MAking of CuLturAL oBjeCtS
.,
Natives made and decorated objects to express tribal identity, community, family, spiritual beliefs and practices, as well as religious societies. Most Native peoples of the Plains and Plateau lived a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle in the pre-reservation period and they could not afford the luxury of having art for arts sake. Thus, possessions and objects served a purpose and they needed to be light and transportable. The natural abundance of wildlife and vegetation in their surroundings gave rise to the development of what we recognize today as classic forms of Plains and Plateau art and objects and their diverse styles proclaimed, “This is who we are as a people.”
The Plains Indians made their early beadwork to identify themselves to those they encountered from a distance, and to avoid a close encounter with an unknown foe, they artistically decorated and constructed many objects. One could identify a Cheyenne by the drape of his feather bonnet, a Ute by the lavish long fringe on his leggings or a Crow by the thick luxurious ermine hide fringe on his war shirt. To this end Native women played a specific role in tribal and family pride by creating the objects they made. A well-dressed family and a lavishly adorned horse indicated a woman’s craftsmanship, achieving status comparable to men successful in their military societies. The Cheyenne, for example, created women’s quillwork societies that only allowed women of great achievement and good moral character.
When life in restricted government-run reservations often left families in dire poverty, economic opportunities opened up to female artisans. Women sold and traded their artworks, crafts and tanned hides for much needed cash, and they beaded gauntlet gloves for the non-native cowboy market and sold in stores like Hamleys in Pendleton, Oregon. Sioux and Arapaho beaded tobacco bags and finely beaded Cheyenne work also sold via mail order through the Mohonk Lodge founded by the Mennonites. Blackfeet sold beadwork and buffalo horn hat racks to tourists traveling near Glacier National Park.
Other objects were made to showcase the Native male’s military accomplishments, spiritual activities as well as the society he represented. A man’s clothing and his accoutrements often told his personal story, his religious affiliations, what he had accomplished, and his status. Buffalo robes and, later on, beaded vests and tobacco bags, were pictographs bearing visual renditions of the wearer’s stories and accomplishments.
—James Nottage
1
oNE