Blackfoot beadwork program connects with local history and culture

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on March 2, 2022.

Herald photo by Al Beeber Kalli Eagle Speaker creates dot art after leading participants in a Galt Museum program for adults and seniors in which she taught about the art of Blackfoot beading.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

A program for adults and seniors at the Galt Museum on Tuesday provided a history lesson and some hands-on learning.
The session on Blackfoot beading by Kalli Eagle Speaker taught participants about the art of Blackfoot beading and gave them the chance to recreate their own using paint dots.
The session was part of the Galt’s Creative Community program which provides activities with a connection to local history and culture.
Eagle Speaker was heavily involved with two exhibits showing at the Galt which were connected to Tuesday’s program.
They include a beadwork exhibit called Iiksisawaato’p Kainaiwa O’tookátákssin: Maana’pii ki niita’piitsitapii saatstakssin (We Visit with Kainaiwa Beadwork: A New Way and the Real Way of Design) which she organized with Hali Heavy Shield and Carol Williams.
Eagle Speaker also sat on a jury for Breathe, a touring exhibit of traditionally crafted masks.
Jae Redgrave, community program co-ordinator at the Galt, said Creative Community is aimed at offering a “hands-on history experience. So we have a short history lesson and then we do a hands-on activity.”
Eagle Speaker gave participants a ‘background and talked about her personal connection to beadwork as well as her family history and some of the designs and patterns commonly used,’ said Redgrave.
The program runs twice monthly with the next being on March 15 with an event called Illuminated Manuscript in which participants will learn the history behind St. Patrick’s Day and create art inspired by illuminated manuscripts from the Middle Ages.
The program runs from 10:30 until 11:30 and registration is required. It’s free to annual pass holders but museum admission applies to others.

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