Home
Home is the intimate and the familiar, the space where we learn from our first teachers, our families and our communities, as well as the plants, animals, mountains, and waterways we live alongside. The artworks here show us how, at the intersections of these relationships to specific lands, waterways, plants, animals, and one another arises an enduring sense of being home.
Salisha Old Bull’s beaded purse includes representations of wild roses, which are an integral part of Bitterroot Salish ecological knowledge. The blooming of wild roses signal the readiness of buffalo as a food source. Similarly, Amy Deer’s necklace set conveys a relationship to the plants and animals that make up home through the use of porcupine quills to depict buffalo. Adele Arseneau’s carving marks a change, caused by environmental destruction, that she and others in her community have observed in the waterways that crisscross their lands. Meanwhile, Erin McCleary’s work is made to be used and seen in the home, all the while expressing traditional Apsáalooke (Crow) designs that derive from the mountains and animals of Crow Country. Holly Pyke wove her Fancy Basket from black ash and sweetgrass native to Mohawk territory, using techniques she learned in her mother’s home and the wider home of her community. Each artwork in this section expresses a deep connection to place through their materials, motifs, and the concepts behind their creation.
Fancy Basket
Saint Regis Mohawk (Akwesasne)
Sweetgrass and Black Ash
Blue and white black ash splints crisscross winding up and around the sides of this intricate basket. In the center of the lid, inside a ring of woven sweetgrass are delightful curls of black ash, dyed a deep blue. Black ash splint and sweetgrass basketry is a signature Akwesasne Mohawk artform. Both materials - black ash and sweetgrass - are native to Akwesasne and have been used by Mohawk artists to create baskets for thousands of years. Artist Holly Pyke often finds herself educating admirers and customers about Haudenosaunee basketry while exhibiting and selling her art in juried shows across the U.S. An earnest learner herself, Pyke continues to expand her knowledge of Haudenosaunee basketry and her weaving skills, growing a vibrant artistic practice.
The Roses We Know
2022
Size 13 true cut, vintage and modern, seed beads; smoked, brain-tanned, deer hide; stabilizer, nylon thread, glass beads, Size 6 seed beads, nylon cord, crystal beads.
13in. with handle/9.5 in. without handle x 6 3/16 in. x.25 in.
Crow & Salish
Flat-stitch, two-needle, contour beadwork. The design depicts wild roses, wild rose buds, and their leaves that grow in Western Montana. Wild roses are valued in Bitterroot Salish culture, and they are used for different reasons, both spiritually and physically. Within the seasonal round, when wild roses bloom, this indicates the buffalo are fat. These are the roses we know within our cultural value system.
Buffalo Necklace
Amy Deer
Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska & Sicangu Lakota
Seed beads, quills, thread
Flattened red quills zig-zag and meet black glass seed beads to bring shape to these buffalo. In this necklace and earring set, Amy Deer used the two needle appliqué beadwork technique and embroidery quilling to depict an animal important to her communities, the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and Sicangu Lakota. She describes her relationship to her art saying, “[b]eading and quilling keeps me close to my culture.” Her artistic process, choice of medium, and imagery all demonstrate her connection to her home communities.
Steel Free
2019
Hand carved old growth red cedar mounted on reclaimed cottonwood burl
Nehiyaw & Métis
This hand carved steelhead salmon was commissioned by a fisherman who had noticed and wanted a piece to speak to the decline of wild salmon stock. It’s modeled after the steelhead I witness in Dana Creek up north of Mackenzie, BC. As a kid, there were so many salmon, one could walk across on their backs. It is no longer like that due to environmental poisons and overfishing.
Decorating each of these home goods and accessories are symmetrical Apsáalooke geometric designs. Erin McCleary chooses bold greens, blues, and reds to create captivating patterns.
