Alice Wifladt
Artist Story
I make all different kinds of traditional art items like mukluks, slippers, boots and mitts with beads, embroidery and yarn work. I learned from my mom and grandma back in the 1960s when I was young. I would watch them while they tanned hides and worked with muskrat, beaver and wolverine fur.
My mom also taught me how to draw flowers on the materials. They didn’t have the ink or pencil to draw with, so they collected flowers growing on the land and bring them home to flatten and inspire their sewing. Otherwise they would have to run home and quickly create designs from their memory! They would share their designs with each other and that is how patterns developed. Now we have all kinds of beads and colourful stuff.
I make art because it looks beautiful. When people wear traditional clothing for the holidays everyone is decorated with new creations and it inspires me. It makes me happy when I get orders from overseas in Germany, England and Norway through the art gallery. It means a lot because I learned from my grandparents and it is important to pass on what they taught me.
Alice lives in a small community named, N’dilo, situated on Yellowknife’s, Latham Island. Taught by her mother and grandmother, Alice has been traditionally sewing and beading since she was twelve years old. She learned at a young age the importance of learning how to sew and passing on the tradition onto others. And that is just what she has done, throughout the years she has taught several workshops to students at schools surrounding her community, she has also passed on the tradition to her sisters, cousins and children. Alice is retired and now creates beautiful beaded artwork full time. She is a proud mother of 6 and grandmother of 4.
Artist Gallery
