NWT Arts

I love expressing my creativity though my passion for beadwork. I bead lanyards, wristlets and fedora hats, but I particularly love making earrings. 

My designs vary, but I typically bead earrings on moose or caribou hide, with Charlotte cut beads. For now, I use locally-sourced home tanned hides, in hopes to be able to tan my own one day! I often include porcupine quill centre-pieces to my designs, and will add hide fringes or antlers from time to time. I also make beaded fringe earrings. 

I love to start beading without a plan and see where that takes me. That’s the beauty of the creative process, you can be surprised by what happens! If I don’t like it, I will just take it apart and redo it. 

I learned to sew from my mother and grandmother. I started when I was a little girl. My first project was a beaded rosary pouch that I made for my grandma when I was very young.

I stopped sewing for a while and picked it up again many years later. I want my daughter to look up to me, so I didn’t want to sit at home doing nothing. I want her to see me working on something, because that’s how I was raised.

I used to watch my mom make all sorts of beautiful objects: uppers, slippers, moccasins, mukluks, and parkas. It was, and still is, an important part of my life. 

My mom remains my biggest inspiration when it comes to design and colours combinations. She still helps me with picking colours that go well together. 

When I bead, I get in the zone. It’s a really calming place where I am focused and relaxed. Everything else is tuned out. I feel like my body is finally at a ease when I sew. 

Beadwork connects me to my culture because a lot of people in my Tłı̨chǫ community are beadwork artists. It’s something that has been passed down to younger generations over the years, and I’m incredibly grateful to be a part of that journey.