Dream Catchers | Hummingbird Cages | Earrings
Necklaces | Key Rings | Leather Works

40% of the Purchase Price is donated to the Order of the Legion of St. Michael

Anthony's art is inspired by the rich heritage of beadwork among the Lakota and other Plains Indians. From this inspiration Anthony creates his own art with a freshness for the contemporary world.

We hope you like what you see in our gallery and find a few pieces to add to your collection.

 

A Little about the History of Beadwork

The Plains Indians lived a nomadic life following buffalo herds and wild game. Sometimes the Indians had to pack up and leave quickly to avoid marauders and government troops. Thus, artistry of the Plains Indians focused on personal items that would not break, and could be packed quickly.

The Indians created practical and sacred artistry. Clothing, parcels, the tipi, and utensils were decorated. Before the mid-1800s decoration and art were primarily of Native paint, shell, and porcupine quill. Quillwork was considered a sacred tribal art and Plains Indian women formed elite societies around the practice. Designs and colors were prescribed.

In the latter half of the 19th Century the Great Plains tribes had been conquered by the American Army. This period was known as the "reservation period". The freedom of the nomadic life the Plains Indians had enjoyed for centuries was over. Plains Indian beadwork reached it’s artistic apex during this time. Glass beads became more prevalent and designs began to change. Early beading followed the same basic patterns as early quillwork, but women would sometimes be given a new technique or pattern by spirits in dreams and these would become her personal property, to be given or sold as the recipient of the dream saw fit.

Contact and trade with foreigners was at its apex and many tribes found themselves in close proximity with White culture and other Indian tribes with which they previously had little contact. Beading, most notably among the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe, took on an artistry never before seen. The bone awls, Native tanned hides, and sinew thread were sometimes replaced by steel needles, commercially tanned skins, and cotton thread. Many of the Plains Indian women, however, still preferred the durability and familiarity of the traditional elements.

Designs became more complicated and covered more of the hides of dresses, pipe bags, cradles, and other paraphernalia. Certain designs were considered "tribal property" and tribal styles developed more distinction. Dreams were still a source of sacred design, but the artists were freer to experiment with innovations and borrow ideas from other tribes as well as from White culture. Beaded items were still lovingly and painstakingly created for family and close friends, but a new market opened as White traders and tourists appreciated and bartered for these items as well.

As with many traditional Native American arts, the turn of the twentieth century saw a decline in Native American Plains Indian beadork, although the love for beading and quill work never died among the Plains people. Many artisans still produce beautiful beaded items today, but the older pieces hold a connection to the past and the Plains Indian tribes as they were in reality as well as in the romance of our imagination.

The preceding history was adapted from "History of Native American Beadwork on the website of the
Historic Cameron Trading Post

Legend of the Dream Catcher

From the Wounded Knee School, Manderson, South Dakota

Long ago when the world was young, an old Lakot spiritual leader was on a high mountain and had a vision. In his vision, Iktomi, the great trickster and teacher of wisdom, appeared in the form of a spider. Iktomi spoke to him in a sacred language that only the spiritual leaders of the Lakota could understand. As he spoke Iktomi, the spider, took the elder's willow hoop which had feathers, horse hair, beads and offerings on it and began to spin a web.

He spoke to the elder about the cycles of life . . . and how we begin our lives as infants and we move on to childhood, and then to adulthood. Finally, we go to old age where we must be taken care of as infants, completing the cycle. "But," Iktomi said as he continued to spin his web, "in each time of life there are many forces -- some good and some bad. If you listen to the good forces, they will steer you in the right direction. But if you listen to the bad forces, they will hurt you and steer you in the wrong direction." He continued, "There are many forces and different directions that can help or interfere with the harmony of nature, and also with the Great Spirit and all of his wonderful teachings."

All the while the spider spoke, he continued to weave his web starting from the outside and working towards the center. When Iktomi finished speaking, he gave the Lakota elder the web and said . . . "See, the web is a perfect circle but there is a hole in the center of the circle. Use the web to help yourself and your people to reach your goals and make good use of your people's ideas, dreams and visions. If you believe in the Great Spirit, the web will catch your good ideas -- and the bad ones will go through the hole."

The Lakota elder passed on his vision to his people and now the Sioux Indians use the dream catcher as the web of their life. It is hung above their beds or in their home to sift their dreams and visions. The good in their dreams is captured in the web of life and carried with them . . . but the evil in their dreams escapes through the hole in the center of the web and is no longer a part of them. They believe that the dream catcher holds the destiny of their future.

 

Disclaimer: In confirmity to the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-644), the art presented here is not created or produced by an Indian, is not an Indian product, nor the product of a particular Indian or Indian Tribe or Indian arts and crafts organization. The definition of an Indian, for the purposes of this Act, is a member of a federally or State recognized Indian Tribe, or an individual certified as an Indian artisan by an Indian Tribe.