Distinctly Montana Magazine

••••••••••••••••••••• BEAUTIFUL TRADITIONS ••••••••••••••••••••• BEADS FAMILY & PHOTOGRAPHY & TEXT BY SUE REYNOLDS M This Water Bird design dance belt would have taken Karen Whitworth four months working straight through. After beading the striking geometric design, which symbolizes the sweathouse, purification, and healing, she put it aside for 20 years. Recently she returned to it and finished the background. Her adult daughter wears the new belt with a calico cuff wing dress, a style traditionally worn by Salish elder women. ost non-Native American people have seen Indian beadwork only in trading posts, museums or maybe on dancers' beautiful outfits at a powwow. Meeting the people who make these works of art and hearing firsthand about the meaning of their beadwork, creates a greater under- standing of American Indians and of this art form they've made their own. Over the past six summers, I've experi- enced Native culture, mostly at Native celebrations across the West, to find out who's behind this long tradition. An honored Salish elder, Agnes "Oshanee" Kenmille was an expert bead worker and hide tan- ner. She created the beautiful outfit she wears here, and taught these traditional skills at Salish Kootenai College on the Flathead reservation for many years. Not long before she died, Agnes generously shared an afternoon of stories about her early years, opening my eyes and heart to another time and a distinctive culture. 58 Deea Old Elk-Stewart, age eight, proudly shows me her dance belt inside the family's tipi at Crow Fair. Beaded by her mother, the belt has a traditional Crow geometric hourglass design on the back. Deea's belt colors and design are similar to her father's dance outfit. Of Crow heritage, she wears the belt with a traditional style red dress adorned with plastic elk teeth, which her father gave her. DISTINCTLY MONTANA • AUTUMN 2011

• Cover