Every category of Native American art requires an attention to detail, an exactness in design and a delicate hand, and yet each category requires its own unique discipline and set of skills. For Native American artists who work in beads and quills, these materials evoke a mastery of form and meticulous detail. The materials are either tiny or fragile, and sometimes both. They are not easy to work with and errors have a ripple effect that can disrupt a whole work. And yet these artists can soar over these challenges with pieces that speak to the past, present and future.
Yonavea Hawkins (Caddo Nation)
Caddo bead artist Yonavea Hawkins recently completed two bracelets, Sunset Sky and Midnight Stars. “My creative use of color is inspired by seeing how the bead colors play against each other while creating a blend of contemporary and traditional design,” Hawkins says. “I love the visual appeal from the sparkle coming from the cut sides of the beads plus adding in the shimmer from the AB or iris, and metallic cut beads.”
www.yonavea.com
Facebook.com/YonaveaHawkinsArtist
instagram.com/yonavea_artist
Ramona Morrow (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe)
Ramona Morrow teaches beadwork, quillwork and traditional Native techniques at the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University, and is also its director of extension. Ramona has taught at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York in 2009 and 2011. She has participated in the Santa Fe Indian Market, Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair & Market and the Eiteljorg Indian Market, where she took first place for beadwork/quillwork in 2024. Earlier this year, Morrow participated in an artist exchange to Cuba. “I create for the love of art; it is where I find my peace,” Morrow says. “To create is healing, to create for family is where my heart lies.”
www.morrowsnativeart.com
Kendra Redhouse (Navajo (Diné))
Kendra Redhouse is a sewist specializing in powwow regalia and beadwork. She is a member of the Diné Nation of Arizona, where she was born and raised, and today currently resides among the Nueta and Hidatsa on the Fort Berthold Reservation, where she raises her family. Redhouse has been working as an artist for 12 years, during which time she has blended her love for powwow dancing and art. Her work has been shown all around the Southwest and beyond.
kredhouse.myshopify.com
instagram.com/kendraredhouse
Deana Ward (Choctaw)
A major new work completed in the studio of Deana Ward is The Message, featuring a bird on a 1920s-era purse. “Choctaw belief systems teach us that red birds are special messengers,” Ward says. “Last July, a red bird flew in front of my car. I almost hit it. It was as if the bird had to get my attention...A few hours later, I was told my cousin had passed away. Months later, I was on my way to the grocery store. I was grieving the loss of my little brother who had passed away that morning. A red bird flew in my view while I was at a stop sign. He was playing in water. I was comforted by his presence. After my brother’s funeral, I was sharing with my daughter how the number of people in heaven that I love keeps growing. The backside of the purse is a reminder for me to remember the past but also to remain mindful of the present.”
(580) 775-2039
dward2.artspan.com
instagram.com/deanawardartist
Leslie Bitsie Jr. (Navajo (Diné))
Artist Leslie Bitsie Jr. is a 12th-generation resident of Tohatchi, New Mexico. His introduction to beadwork was a result of his lifelong exposure to and appreciation of Native American culture, especially through his mother and grandmother. He utilizes European glass beads, precious metals, crystal beads and various natural materials such as shells, select gemstone cabochons and other materials. He labels his beadwork as, “Made by Navajo hands on Navajo land.”
www.lesliebitsiejr.com
Jessa Rae Growing Thunder (Fort Peck Assiniboine/ Sioux (Nakoda/Dakota))
Recently added to the Autry Museum of the American West’s permanent collection is Jessa Rae Growing Thunder’s piece Anissa’s Blue Bag/Nuna’s Pink Bag, a little girl’s double-sided dance bag. The bag is done in Fort Peck Assiniboine/Sioux aesthetic, with all the beadwork completed in size 13 to 15 seed beads. “[The] bag was inspired by my mother Juanita’s stories about my great-great-grandmother, Josephine Gray Hawk, beading her little dance bag when she was the same age as my daughters (four years old),” Growing Thunder says. “My daughters are six months apart in age, and although they both weren’t carried in my womb, they are like twins. This bag reflects the nature they currently carry where they are into sharing toys, bags and beadwork, but have their individual flair and style.”
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