Female Expression in Blackfoot Beadwork
Why beadwork?
For the womanhood project, I chose to display a selection of beadwork from the museum’s collection. My focus is drawn primarily to the lavender pieces by Rachel Big Lake of the Blackfeet Nation.
Historically, Native American women were responsible for a great deal of tasks on the plains. While the male’s hunting parties traveled for days on end, the women prepared all the food, tanned the hides, raised and collapsed the tipi, transported water, collected plants, and processed the meat. Though beaded adornment has never been a singularly female form of expression in Native American culture, the colors and designs used are typically gendered.
While the designs of men often depict realism and are traditionally decorations of the objects used in rituals and religious ceremonials, Native American women often use abstract and geometric patterns to adorn clothing, accessories, and objects with a unique sense of beauty.
The lavender spiral necklace and the four-directions buttons in the museum collection are from far away in Alberta, Canada, and yet the same principals of design unite female artists across the continent. The repetition, symmetry, rhythm, line arrangements, and other aspects of design are used by Native artists to express the delicate feminine balance that makes a piece of jewelry universally “pretty.”
My personal understanding of womanhood has been influenced greatly by my academic interest in Native American culture and identity. I have come to the understanding that all people have a duality of feminine and masculine attributes within them; expression of both gender qualities may be free flowing through an individual, and together provide balance and stability. One without the other is dangerously divided.
Womanhood graces the world with emotional comfort, wise fortitude, and serene peacefulness.
Victoria’s experience with the Womanhood Project:
By participating in the Womanhood Project, I have been blessed to meld ideas with several academic and creatively inspirational women. The opportunity to make connections with other women regarding historical artifact from around the globe has taught me about our universal human connection. This project has been an honor and I will carry the experience over to my future endeavors.
Her Bio:
Victoria Waters completed her B.A. with distinction in May 2020 with a major in History and minors in Indigenous Studies and English. Her passion is in the study and public education of the history of the American West and the Native American People.