(gentle music) - When I learned how to do bead work, one thing that some of my teachers always taught was, don't bead if you don't feel good.

'Cause those feelings go into your work, or you're gonna like mess up, or you're gonna be frustrated.

So there'd be times I really wanna bead, but I'm not feeling the feeling yet, so I'll just separate my beads, group and sort them.

And I'm just like sitting there doing that.

And then it just like my feelings feel better, and then I'll be like, "Okay, I'm gonna start on my project."

(gentle music) My first exposure to art was seeing my grandma making star quilts.

Both of my grandmas made star quilts.

My mom's mom, I was always kind of sickly as a kid, so I had to like stay home with her.

She'd gimme this big box of scraps and she showed me how to sew and I'd make these little Barbie blankets and stuff.

And so I was like five, six years old, and I just had like all this valuable time with my kunsi, my grandmother.

And she just taught me a whole lot, just about sitting quietly.

And then my mom, she would make clothing, Pendleton coats.

I remember going to sleep at night, and she would have this Pendleton blanket and I'd wake up in the morning and there'd be like a Pendleton coat hanging up, that she made all night.

So I mean I guess I grew up around that.

Just creativity, just seeing people make things.

(gentle music) And so when I started beading, I had seen my mom make barrettes and stuff, but she wasn't like the bead worker.

She was always sewing, she was a really good seamstress.

I just got this book and it said like "Native American Bead Work."

And I just read how to bead, and I grabbed a barrette that I liked and I just copied it.

And then from there I just kept making things and making things and talking to people like, "Oh, how do you make this?"

Or they would tell me how they made something.

Like with Super, he made moccasins and he's like, "I can show you."

And I was like, "Sure."

And just spending the time to learn.

These older ones wanna pass on that knowledge.

Just being there to collect it and learn and ask questions, I think that's really important.

(traditional music) Powwow outfits, or making our outfits for the powwow.

That was like why I started beading.

Watching my mom make our dresses and making outfits for my brothers.

Just watching her make things, I kinda learned.

The first dress I made, I was like, "I made this!"

And she's like, "Who showed you how?"

And I'm like, "I just watched you like all this time and I learned."

I don't feel like she realized she was teaching me how to make it.

She would just tell me all her little tips and tricks and stuff.

And then when I had my daughter, you just want your kid to look the cutest.

So I'd make her all her little outfits and she's my little doll and I just make all her little stuff.

And I also wanna be confident and know that she looks good and cared for and loved by making all this stuff for her.

And so every year she grows and sometimes it's so disappointing 'cause she just grows so fast and it's like, "I just made that, and you already grew out of it."

So this is like her old stuff.

We made this together.

So this goes with.. See, these are her old moccasins.

I wish I could just find all her little sizes of the same moccasin.

(Raine laughing) So she's kind of outgrown this set.

(gentle music) Just making new stuff for her has kind of been like the past 10 years of what I've been doing mainly, 'cause she's my muse.

Right now, I'm just making this cape for my daughter, for her fancy dance outfit.

Super made her a pair of moccasins, so I just kind of used his moccasin design and colors as the inspiration.

So she has a whole set that matches.

Whatever she wants, we go to the fabric store.

"What do you like?"

We talk about things and make things her favorite colors.

When I see her dance in something that I made, or that me and my mom made together, or all three of us made together, 'cause she works on her own outfits now too.

She sews on fringe and she does stuff.

She helps us too, now that she's older.

But just seeing her out there dancing and just all this love, it's just like really a good feeling.

All those hours of love.

This could take an hour and a half to do this line.

So it's a couple hours here, a couple hours there.

I start in the middle and I work my way out, and then filling in the background.

So I actually did this on the way to Montana, like this whole upper half.

(Raine laughing) So, I don't know, if I just get uninterrupted time, I could work really fast, 'cause I've been beading for so long, it doesn't take me a long time anymore.

And plus I don't have to figure things out 'cause I already made it in my mind.

And now I just like plan it out on paper.

Now this is gonna be the second half, the front half of that.

And then, so I've kinda used the same design.

And we were talking about what to put up here.

So me and my daughter are still talking about this design here.

So, we'll see.

(gentle music) - [Off-Screen Voice] Last one standing.

- [Off-Screen Voice 1] Yes.

- Yeah.

- Are you making new bead work too?

- [Off-Screen Voice 2] I'm gonna make some new earrings.

- Every Friday night, I have this beading keyapi.

So keyapi in our language means, it literally means "They say."

So you'd be like, gossip.

But I just say it just to be funny, 'cause it's like, who doesn't wanna know the gossip?

But it's kinda to get people to come over.

I use conditioner and then I use beeswax on top of it.

But this one, I just use this one.

I wanted to set a couple hours a week to work on bead work.

And I was like, I get so distracted.

Or I'll be like, "Oh, it's fine.

I'll work on it later."

And I'll never get to it, you know?

So like weeks pass and I'll never touch my bead work.

But I'm like, if I set aside a few hours on a Friday night, and then also like go on Facebook and invite everybody, then people will come over.

And so it works kind of like an open house, 'cause people come over for an hour, somebody else will show up and somebody else.

So it's like all night, people are just coming and going.

And it's also cool, 'cause there'll be something I don't know.

And then somebody will come and then they'll show somebody else how to do something.

And then sometimes we just sit around and eat and talk and bead.

So it's like, it's not always teaching.

So it's sometimes you have to know really good gossip.

(Raine laughing) I get all the tea.

(Raine laughing) Oh I was like, "Oh oh."

- Yeah.

Uh oh.

(ladies laughing) - Tukte wanzi yacin he?

So I really used my knowledge of bead work to teach language.

It's the thing I'm most passionate about right now.

I want somebody to make something and learn the words of how to say leather, how to say beads, how to say all these things that you're using.

And then also the technique, but they're also like, "Hey, can you pass me the scissors?

Or I have some string."

And sometimes it's awkward to speak the language because you're so vulnerable and you're scared of making mistakes.

But if you're making something or doing something, and talking, like you don't feel everybody looking at you, 'cause everybody else is doing stuff.

Right now, a lot of things that I make, I don't charge for them, because I don't need the money.

'Cause I work, so I'm like, I would rather get something from them that they made.

So it's kind of like this exchange.

And you never know, one time I got a jar of like antique beads and stuff.

It was really cool.

You never know what you're gonna get if you say you wanna make a trade.

(gentle music) I think about Dakota women, we're always raised to be industrious.

This is our Dakota ways.

That's still important.

A part of like our way of life, because especially nowadays, so many people are on their screens and on their phones.

And we have to keep our young people doing these things and adapting.

We're a living culture, so we're gonna change.

Like this is just how it is.

So it's the "Mandalorian."

(dramatic music) This is like my third "Mandalorian" skirt.

This is just the latest.

(Raine laughing) So it has like the little gold thread.

This is the little details I like.

So I think this is like, the reason why I make things, is because I make things I wanna wear.

You know?

Deced ecunpi.

This is the way.

Yeah, Dakotans are Mandalorians.

It's a fact.

You can record me saying that.

Get me on camera saying that.

- [Crew] Yeah, yeah.

- Language changes.

We change.

Everything's changing.

But I try to preserve the old ways, as much as possible.

So learning those old ways of like brain tanning, learning the old ways of our old designs, the kind of beads that they used in the 1800s.

In the past years, just realizing my Dakota lineages, Bdewakantunwan, I just really start loving the more floral and the woodland designs.

Learning my own history of my lineage changed my art.

(gentle music) That's just like my wall of my favorite people.

So I have my great-great-great grandfather, Taoyateduta, or Little Crow.

Growing up, I just didn't really grasp who he was until I was probably a teenager.

Like his importance in Dakota history.

To me, it was like just somebody in our family.

And then I went to school and I started learning about Minnesota history and I was like, "Wow, he's significant in Minnesota history."

(gentle music) A lot of times people just judge you on the way you look, automatically, or they have a stereotype of what Natives should look like.

"Oh, you speak the language?

You should look like this.

Oh, you do bead work?

You should look like this."

And I don't.

I think growing up amongst a lot of darker Natives and be called White girl and stuff like that, it just really was a source of insecurity for me.

Knowing my history and knowing where I come from, knowing my ancestors, helped me overcome that, and really just know who I am.

I'm not trying to look the part anymore.

There was a part of my life where I felt like I had to have like long dark braids and stuff.

And now I'm like, "I'm just gonna look like me.

I'm just gonna look how I think I wanna look."

(gentle music) A long time ago, Dakota women would gather and make things, or be industrious, especially in the winter time.

That's like when we would make all of our things.

And then at some point in history, we just got to making bead work or trinkets for people was a way to make money.

This was something we did for survival.

Now, I feel like my thought of bead work is kind of like, I wanna make something beautiful for my friends.

I wanna make something beautiful for my daughter.

As somebody who creates things, I like to look at what I made.

Like, "Oh wow, I made that.

Wow, that looks really good on her."

That brings me more joy than any dollar amount could do.

(gentle music) (gentle music continues) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - [Narrator] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by, Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies.

Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen, on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Windom, Minnesota.

On the web at shalomhillfarm.org.

Alexandria, Minnesota, a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails, and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

The Lake Region Arts Council's Arts Calendar, an arts and cultural heritage funded digital calendar showcasing upcoming art events and opportunities for artists in West Central Minnesota.

On the web at lrac4calendar.org.

Playing today's new music, plus your favorite hits, 96.7 KRAM, online at 967kram.com.

(bright music)