Orlanda Flett was inspired by the beading her kokum taught her, but has taken her Cree and Métis background and turned it into something very new. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Modern art

Beaded sculpture on display in P.A. takes history & adds creativity to make something new

Oct 16, 2023 | 5:00 PM

No word exists to describe the sculpture local artist and teacher Orlanda Flett has created that now sits in a gallery in downtown Prince Albert.

Flett herself had a hard time describing her artwork – which took things like earrings she beaded a long time ago, adding some newly acquired skills with porcupine quills – and made something completely different.

“I wanted to keep true to our Indigenous heritage,” said Flett, who is Cree and Métis. “With the sculpture, I thought about that too. It’s different, it’s not what you typically see so I thought about that.”

First, she wondered if it was OK then decided at the end of the day it was.

“It meshes the past and the future and hopefully it inspires others and continues to inspire me to create different forms of beading to share.”

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The piece is named pimācihowin, which means journey, because it features monarch butterflies, which fly southward every fall and have a lifespan of up to six weeks.

“If you think about it from an Indigenous perspective, the butterflies that leave in the fall and make the journey, the ones that come back are their grandchildren,” Flett said.

That reminded her of the journey her ancestors and grandparents made in order for their descendants to be where they are.

Flett, whose maiden name is Chaboyer, grew up in Cumberland House northeast of Nipawin, and learned to bead as a young girl by her grandmothers and an aunt who also became a special kokum.

“Each evening, I just was waiting and waiting until I could go there, then I would go down and watch her bead,” she explained. “Honestly, to this day, I think her eyes were closed.”

As her grandmother would calmly bead her pieces, Flett would watch her and admire how intricate her stitches were.

She stopped beading for a while but is now taking up the mantle again and re-learning some of her grandmother’s teachings.

But she didn’t stop there as Flett has added her own twist with the sculpture now sitting at The Avenue Gallery on Central clearly showing this.

It’s a three-dimensional artwork that stands as a uniquely Indigenous creation but with a twist.

Beaded flowers, a orange and black butterfly, and a medicine wheel are all placed on a piece of diamond willow, collected by a community member in Cumberland House.

The piece is named pimācihowin, which means journey. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

Incorporating quill work and caribou hide tufting (all dyed the desired colours by Flett’s own hand) are not common in the beadwork from the Cumberland House area.

Whether the love of beading passes down to Flett’s three children remains to be seen. Right now, they’re at the age they would rather do other things.

“I am trying to inspire my daughter. She’ll watch and go try then she puts it back down and says no, not ready,” Flett explained with a laugh.

Her children love seeing the beading and like being able to give it to friends as gifts, they just don’t want to be the creators of the art.

For Flett, she is rewarded through the happiness that her beadwork brings to other people.

“People take a second look, or they take time to stop and ask about them or ask questions. We have a really beautiful craft within our Indigenous communities, and we need to continue to embrace that and share that with other people,” she said.

“I hope that more people pick up their needle and thread and try to be creative and create those things.”

Each Indigenous community has its own form of beadwork that has been around for hundreds of years, even making them out of stones and shells.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow