Beading & Reading

I love beading, but if I’m honest, it wasn’t love at first sight. I began my first Bead and Read class the Art Gallery of Hamilton in Jan 2019 with a willing and eager colleague. We were both excited to read and discuss Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talaga. I love creative and artistic projects, and I really wanted to be good at beading. The first day, our lovely teacher Jasmin took us through the basics and set the reading task for the week. Despite her careful and clear instructions, I struggled. I left feeling that I would never get it. But I persisted, and each week, I improved. As we read through the book and shared our questions, frustrations, and anger over the tragic deaths of the 7 youths in the book, we also shared other stories, ideas, and resources. Amazingly, I completed 2 1/2 projects by the end of the course that I had designed myself, and I became completely hooked on beading. In a group, I could bead and discuss, but when I did it alone, it became almost meditative.

After this class ended, I talked with Johanne, the former Indigenous Education Teaching & Learning Consultant at Mohawk College and asked if we could have similar groups. And she made it happen! With Johanne, we learned raised Haudenosaunee beading which was yet another curve that I’m still working on. She had us read some amazing documents, but some of my favourite memories are things that she shared, like the seven beads to represent the seven generations.

My most recent beading experience was with the FNUC Student Success Centre. At the end of Nov, the SSC sent out a message offering beading classes as a way to beat the end of term stress. I was thrilled to be able to participate over Zoom. Within a week or so, I received my beading kit. Beading over Zoom wasn’t easy, and yet again a new technique that I struggled to learn. However, the Elder who led the circle talked about her experiences at residential school as she also taught us to bead cords. It was a little strange over Zoom but hearing her stories provided a whole other type of learning that I hadn’t been expecting. At one point, I gave up beading simply to listen but then had to scramble when she asked to see how I was doing. I'm still working on beading cords, but I'll never forget what she shared with us.