Beading is healing

Walking in a good way, connecting my culture and formal education allows me to engage in ‘Two eyed Seeing,’ anti-colonial praxis and transformative healing practice.

I can offer insight into flat stitch, peyote stich, brick stich

I have been beading for over ten years and have experienced the growth opportunities, patience-learning opportunities, beading trials and celebrations which often come with beading. I view the act of beading as a way to engage in body-spirit-mind-emotions in a wholistic way of healing, learning, growth and belonging.

I can offer insight into flat stitch, peyote stitch, brick stitch.

Projects I have done workshops on in the past: Lanyards (peyote and wrap-around), Keychains, Flat-stitch, Pins/Broaches, Earrings (brick stitch).

Photo credits:

Holly Star Tait (Cree Artist, Photographer, Painter and OrganizeR)

Beading-As-reconciliation

When in our Bachelors and as leaders in the student movement, my friend Holly Star Tait (Cree) and myself collaborated to create a ‘Beading-As-Reconciliation’ workshop series with ‘Creations by Nations’. The workshop includes education, activities, and circle conversations on related topics such as: why we need reconciliation, where we are coming from, Indigenous resurgence, resistance and Indigenous futurisms

This workshop teaches the community how to bead a project of their choice - the project is flat-stick beaded on felt and is to be a story of reconciliation. At the end of the workshop we combine the beaded stories of reconciliation together to make a mosaic representing how the community walks in a good way.

Beading-Belonging-becoming

Within my Masters of Social Work Journey, I created and co-facilitated this workshop with another Ojibwa student.

This workshop centres our lived experiences which influence our journeys of wholeness, well-being, Identity and belonging. The workshop invites participants to join together in weekly or bi-weekly circles with one another for eight-to-twelve weeks to make connection, share stories, and walk in collective healing together.

The community members are able to choose a project of their choice and bead something which represents healing and belonging for them. This can either be in the form of a lanyard, earrings, keychain, broach or something similar. Community members share this projects and a story of how the time together supported their journey, according to how comfortable they feel of what to share

Photo Credit:

Holly Star Tait (Cree Artist, Photographer, Painter and Organizer)