Pouch (Haudenosaunee/ Seneca), New York, Early 19th Century, Wool, cotton, silk, glass seed beads (2016.738.3) [Rotating out 2022]

TANTOO: Notice the variety of materials used to create this piece. Joe Baker is an artist, curator, and member of the Lenape nation.

JOE BAKER: I think what's important to keep in mind is that tradition is forward, that traditional design lives also in the future. That it is not static; it is ever-changing and ever-responsive to the conditions of the moment.

TANTOO: Items like glass beads and ribbons are often considered, quote, “traditional” Native American materials. But most of these so-called “traditional” materials entered into Indigenous art in recent centuries through complex processes of colonization, acculturation, and trade.

In eastern North America – the Woodlands Region – ribbon, glass beads, and trade cloth – or machine-made fabrics – only appeared after European contact in the 16th and 17th centuries. Native artists already had vast experience working with naturally available materials such as shell beads and porcupine quills, and they incorporated the new materials into their already rich creative practices. The process of innovation continues today.

JOE: It's like an artist being introduced to new paint – you know, the thrill of the introduction of acrylic paints, when they came into play in the 1970s, and how that changed painting. This would be true for the trade cloth and the beads and the silk ribbons. You know, what wonderful new material to incorporate into the material culture of our people.