Salisha Old Bull
Salisha Old Bull was born in Eastern Montana and raised on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Western Montana. Her mother is Salish and father is Crow so she has a well-rounded bundle of Indigenous teachings from the Montana area. She is married to Shandin Pete and has 5 children. She was an aspiring artist as a child but chose to follow a different career path. She kept art in the background of her life and expressed most of her creativity through beadwork. She was taught to bead by her maternal grandmother, Rachel Arlee Bowers when she was a very young child and considers her earliest memories of beading at about her second grade in elementary school. She gains inspiration from traditional ecological knowledge from both Salish and Crow tribes and uses this imagery within her artwork. These aspects of cultural knowledge are the attributes that empower Indigenous people.
Meadowlark Will Tell You
October 2023
Seed beads, brain-tanned smoked deer hide, glass beads, nylon thread, sinew, stabilizer. This bag depicts the meadowlark which is significant in both the Absaaloke and Salish Cultures. For the Salish this bird had a tendency to tell others, they wouldn't keep secrets and had a habit of telling the things they've seen. They were sort of getting themselves in binds because of telling on what they had seen. They used to sing in Salish but we can't understand them anymore. For Absaaloke culture, the bird was known to be a blessing if it was around your dwelling. This bird is in many stories and teaches us the importance of minding our own business. The background is reminiscent of a Salish style short fringe dress. The flower is a shooting star which appears in the spring in Western Montana.
