Olive Turtle 031506 Baby Onesie

This is part of a series of Indian Head/Buffalo nickel pieces I started to make in honor of my older brother John in 2005.

I am an enrolled member of "the" Oneida Nation and a descendent of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. My mother taught me how to bead on a loom at the age of five. She taught me to include an intentional flaw in my beadwork to symbolize that we are all human beings and we all make mistakes. All my work includes an intentional flaw. I eventually taught myself the appliqué style of beading. I take thousands of tiny glass beads and sew them onto a variety of materials to make a statement not only as art but to preserve the history and culture of my ancestors. I make traditional and contemporary Native American beadwork. My beadwork is a story of beliefs, of art, of commerce. You can enjoy the beadwork as art but behind the art is a story....