Artist statement
“I can feel the love that has gone into this piece.”
Hearing this is a great compliment and a hope that I have for my artwork. I have always been drawn to the creative process and my first attempt to honour traditional beadwork woke the artist inside. I completed my first beaded piece, a small floral (with an obvious spirit bead) in 2017. It was framed and gifted. I think about that one often. It still make me smile to remember who has it and to know that it is treasured.
Communities of creatives, circles of artists, are a constant reminder that this artwork is relational. We share stories, experiences, ideas, materials, and techniques. We inspire each other, hold space for one another, and offer encouragement to create from the heart. It is a practice of relationship. A practice of mindfulness, and slows the pace of life in an otherwise fast, noisy world. Beading is medicine.
The journey has been a gift to myself, a humbling honour, connecting me to myself, my ancestors, and communities to which I belong. I was gifted a collection of beads that were my father’s which he kept in a red toolbox. The one gold bead that can be found in each piece, a spirit bead from his collection symbolizes these relationships, and perhaps it is the carrier of those feelings of love.
With gratitude
âyihay
All my relations
Jocelyn
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WILLOW for home
R0SE for Grandma
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I live in Treaty 6 Territory, District 9 of the Otipemisiwak Métis Government, of which I am a citizen. My Cree-Métis heritage comes from my father’s side with family names including Lamothe, Jobin, Dumas, Caron, and Mandeville.
My father spent much time uncovering family history, including travelling to Ottawa in the 1990s to look through various archives. He traced Métis scrip to both his grandfather, who fought in the Battle of Batoche alongside his brothers, as well as his great-grandmother. The scrip includes the location St Charles parish, Manitoba, and is dated August 18, 1875.
My grandmother’s experience attending IRS in Grouard, Alberta was not spoken about until long after. The ROSE was a favourite flower of hers, and pink was one of her ribbon colours chosen for her by a dear, late uncle. I honour her through this flower and colour.
Pussy willows were always one of the first signs of spring that my family watched for on the acreage that my parents built, and this tradition continues. Sprigs of WILLOW were shared with all those that came to celebrate my dad when he passed several years ago. On my mother’s side I have European and Settler heritage with ties to Iowa, Scotland, and Sweden. My parents shared a common love for family, music, creating, working hard, and living with the land.
Many have been instrumental in sharing family history, including one Auntie who has fond memories about my great-grandmother, iskwew from Big Prairie, who was the beader in the family, gifting them their moccasins as children. I have learned that there are a pair of her gauntlets being cared for by a relative. I hope to find my way to visit those one day. Finding my way to this traditional art form has been a great blessing.
#LamotheLove