Growing up on the Blackfeet reservation, in Browning, Montana, Jackie Larson Bread (Blackfeet) fell in love with the beadwork her late paternal grandmother left behind. She remembers wanting to create something just as beautiful one day and looking for people to help guide her. Bread’s father, who recalled some of his mother’s techniques and styles, taught his daughter what he could but also encouraged her to seek guidance from other beadworkers on the reservation. In time, Bread learned to bead using the two-needle, flat-stitch method, where one needle and thread carries the beads, and the other needle sews them down. Once she entered high school Bread began to work at the Museum of the Plains Indian, where she became exposed to stunning pieces of beadwork and drawings from Native communities across the United States. It was during this time that her other passion, painting, became something she wanted to further cultivate.
Weasel Tail, 2016, beadwork, 15 x 9”
She accomplished this goal by attending the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and earning an Associate of Fine Arts degree in museum studies and two-dimensional art. While at IAIA, Bread began to experiment with how to enmesh her painting and beadwork, which ultimately resulted in beaded portraits of vintage photos of family, friends and influential Native American leaders. For the most part, Bread has chosen to use photographs of people her parents knew personally and would often tell her stories about. Those stories are what helped the artist draw deeper connections to her work and why she often spends so much time trying to accurately capture their physical characteristics, clothing or other unique features. When the photos are in black and white, she uses her imagination and knowledge of Blackfeet cultural items to determine what colors someone’s vest, shirt, hat or jewelry may be. This attention to detail is what has made Bread one of the most successful and prolific Native artists today.
Bird Rattle, 2018, beadwork, 20 x 16”
Jackie Larson Bread (Blackfeet) in her studio.
One of her favorite creations is a beaded portrait of her father’s great aunt that she won Best of Show for at the 2019 Santa Fe Indian Market. Bread was fortunate enough to have met this aunt, and during the construction of this piece, she recalls being able to channel a sense of inner peace and love after having gone through a series of personal upheavals in previous years. In essence, this work, like all of what she does, provided Bread the space to reflect, think and meditate on how to best approach any situation coming her way.
Amsakapi Pikunni: Culture Keeper, the Heart and Soul of our Families, 2019, beadwork, 24 x 6”
Lazy Boy, 2018, beadwork, 9 x 6”
Recently the artist has been focusing on creating a new series of artwork for the Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market, an event she has not been to in more than 20 years. She has shifted her focus from human features to capturing the intricate details of animals—like buffalo, wolves and cougars—out of a desire to share stories about them from her point of view. Most importantly, she wants to push herself and stretch her skill set. The biggest challenge she has experienced so far has been in capturing a sense of texture of the animal’s features; so that it would appear from afar like someone could reach out, touch her piece, and expect to feel the animal’s fur or feathers. She has found success in accomplishing this by using a lazy stitch, which consists of loops alternately encircling one and two coils. To maintain the vibrancy of colors she desires, Bread uses Japanese size-15 glass beads, in conjunction with the two-needle, flat-stitch technique, that she says allows her to capture a shading effect that she would normally use in her paintings. The results of these efforts are reflected in her 2021 Santa Fe Indian Market entry titled Looking to the Future: Moving Forward, which is a crossbody bag with a beaded buffalo head at its center. She chose to highlight the buffalo because of their power and strength, especially during times of great strife like a snowstorm. To Bread, this animal is especially significant when considering everything that the world, and especially Native communities, have had to endure for over the past year and a half with the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic. She wanted to instill a sense of hope into this artwork, and it is fair to say that with her ability to capture the vibrancy of the buffalo’s natural beauty, that she achieved her objective.
Looking Toward the Future, Moving Forward, 2021, beadwork and paint, 15”
Memory Keeper, 2013, beadwork, 6 x 9”
When discussing the effects of the pandemic on producing new artwork, Bread admitted that mandated shutdowns did not impact her as much as others because as an artist she is already accustomed to some form of isolation while beading in her studio or home space. However, she often finds herself reminiscing about the times she spent at her family’s kitchen table, beading or drawing, while her children ran around, welcomed friends, or went off to school. The ability to work from home on her passion is not something that she takes for granted as it is a big reason why her family remains so close today. In fact, both of her children are artists, and they often show at markets together.
Red Lodge, 2020, beadwork
While interviewing Bread for this artist profile, what stuck out to me the most was not only how gracious she was about sharing how she approaches her artwork, but how humble she is talking about her career. While others may boast about their success, Bread is the first one to admit that she is just incredibly honored to be able to do what she loves for a living. When asked about how it feels to have her art live in private collections, and in museums around the world, she replied that she is always blown away that people want to live and be surrounded by her work. She is just as blown away by the fact that one day, maybe 200 years from now, someone will be walking into a museum, as she used to when working at the Plains Indian Museum, and marvel at what she accomplished. She hopes that those individuals will see how her work honors the people who came before her while simultaneously inspiring them to create something beautiful. Though it may seem like Bread’s new work is entering into some unknown territory, she is confident in being able to accomplish anything she sets her mind to. She believes it is important to always keep evolving and to never just stay completely still, because that is not what life is. I think it is fair to say that no matter what direction Jackie Larson Bread decides to take her art that it will not only be aesthetically pleasing, but also indicative of the love she has for her family, friends and community. She is truly an inspiration to all those who encounter her work and to those who are fortunate enough to speak with her. —
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