Exhibitor #40 (Sarah Dickie)  

Title:  A Study in Traditional Practice

Medium: Moose hide, moose sinew, moose antler, moose and caribou hair, deer hide, turquoise, beads, quills, velvet, embroidery

Dimensions: 4 pieces, 8″ x 6″ each

NFS

Artist Statement: I am a Slavey-Dene and Halqumalem First Nation visual and texture artist. Some of my first memories were playing hide and seek in a closet full of home-tanned moosehide, learning to be safe around an endless supply of needles, beads, and other supplies. My Etsoo (grandmother) taught me to sew, and I have sewn on everything – commercially tanned deerhide, home-tanned moose and deer hide, stroud (wool-felt), using glass beads, traditionally harvested porcupine quills, moose- and caribou-hair tufting, moccasins, mukluks, vests, mittens, hair ties, barrettes, pins, broaches, and earrings with nary a scrap wasted. Harmony with nature is an important piece that underpins a lot of my work. I started using patterns drawn by my Etsoo, slowly starting to design my own patterns based on trial, error, skill level and available supplies.

In this piece I began by gathering paper birch. When leaves start to bud on paper birch, I harvest with a sharp knife (not too deep and not all the way around the trunk), scraping off the inner and outside bits, keeping them moist. I then start to create designs with porcupine quills (not too fat, preferably). The quills have a story too: being gifted a roadkill porq, pulling quills by hand, sorting, cleaning, drying, and dyeing them. I also used moose hide, moose sinew and moose antler, thin enough to bead, strong enough to fasten the caribou hair tufting to, turquoise-dyed, soft, supple stretchy deer hide and black velvet, an old material of high status, backed with a brown paper bag to strengthen, then decorated with beads and embroidery.