Quillwork History

The following is a very brief history of quillwork from an Oceti Sakowin perspective. I’d like to preface by saying we all carry these histories within our communities, all with different variation in details, all remain truth. With that being said, this history isn’t for the non-Native to “learn” about quillwork, but rather this is written by a Native person for other Native people. The purpose of this isn’t to give an in-depth history of the art form, but rather remind us these teachings go back to our story/ies of emergence—which is a great reminder of why we must preserve natural materials and natural resources while continuing to uphold these teachings.

I’ve been fortunate to grow up surrounded by quillworkers. I can recall being a young child and my mother would be sorting porcupine quills on her big worktable. Out of curiosity, I would stand near her chair and watch her miniature tweezers sort through the quills to find the thin ones, which are often the prize. Whenever she would be fortunate to pluck her quills herself from the porcupine, she would instruct me that the prize quills are along his side near his stomach, and the thick quills would be along his back.[1] I grew up knowing the exact smell of freshly harvested porcupine. The scent would change when my mother would wash the quills, then boil them with dye to get the exact color she needed. The aroma has continued to linger throughout my entire life, as if it is always in the background, silently reminding me of my responsibilities as a Dakota/Nakoda woman.

Porcupine quillwork is truly an Indigenous artform because, in its traditional practice, it had no colonial influence, meaning, there were no settler colonial/Euro-industrial materials used to create quillwork. Instead, the materials used to create quillwork were produced through hunting and collecting natural elements, like berries, moss and roots. Though some written analysis of quillwork claims there is no measure of when and where quillwork began, some archaeological research suggests quillwork was done on the plains as early as the 6th century.[2] Oral traditions encounter similar approximations, stating quillwork was given to Oceti Sakowin women shortly after emergence.

From an Oceti Sakowin perspective, to discuss quillwork, it is imperative to discuss the quillworking societies that are responsible for these teachings. Oceti Sakowin oral traditions possess many stories and acknowledgments of Anukite and her multiple forms. Some oral and written testimonies call her Anukite because she possesses two faces. Others call her Nunpapika Win (Double Woman) because she presents herself in the form of two women tied together by objects like a mirror or rope. And some testimonies call her Sinte Sapela Win (Black-Tailed Deer Woman) where she resembles half woman, half black tail deer.

“Double Woman appeared to a young woman in a dream and taught her how to use porcupine and bird quills for artistry. After her dream, the young woman requested a tipi, a porcupine, a white gull, and a prepared buffalo hide. She went into the brush to find natural dyes of red, blue, yellow, and black. She entered her tipi and worked alone, emerging only for meals. She split the bird quills and dyed them blue. She plucked the porcupine quills and separated them according to length. Eventually, she invited one of her friends into the tipi and shared with her the techniques of the new art. Together they quilled a buffalo robe, then prepared a feast, and invited many other women. They sang songs and explained quillwork and other secrets of Double Woman. For this reason, the Sioux say, quillwork is a sacred art.”[3] 

Anukite, as an important figure of Oceti Sakowin tradition, appears in many oral traditions. What is most interesting about her appearance in story, is how inconspicuous she is. Many of the stories Anukite appears in are all pivotal moments in Oceti Sakowin cultural history, yet her character and presence can often be overlooked. For the purposes of this blog, its access, and the respect of these stories and Anukite, I will not share these stories here today. It is important that many of these knowledges remain in community and within the environments they should be shared. Meaning, these knowledges should be shared in intimate settings from person-to-person. Anukite would want it this way.

It was after Oceti Sakowin emergence that Anukite began gifting women the rights and responsibilities of quillwork. It is taught that she chooses who will be a quillworker; to be able to create art replicates the responsibilities of creating life, therefore, not every woman is given such a gift. Once she decides a woman is worthy of the gift, she then appears in your dreams, in which you then make your decision to follow her or not. If a quillworker decides to follow Anukite, you then build a relationship with her. To be a quillworker, you must always be a good relative, to speak kind to everyone, to always carry goodness in your heart, never quill or create when you are angry or upset, and to always maintain a relationship with the spirits and remember it is they who give you the ability to create. The protocols and instructions of how to be a quillworker became Oceti Sakowin women’s tradition for those that were selected by Anukite. These women’s traditions continue to follow the historical timeline of Oceti Sakowin artistic expression.

When beads were introduced through trade, it was the quillworkers, the creators, who began working with them. Slowly, they would incorporate beads into their quillwork, often applying their quillworking techniques. It wasn’t long after that many of the quillworkers put down their quills and worked solely with beads because it was much easier and quicker. It is said, those that left quillworking became lazy because they lost the knowledges they were responsible for. Therefore, the earliest technique of beadwork is referred to as lazy-stitch.[4]

The oral traditions of quillworking speaks to the knowledges of the land and environment; in all aspects of quillworking there is immense respect for protocol and the land/environment fits within those practices. The introduction of seed beads altered the tradition of quillwork and the knowledges that instruct the sacred processes.

The introduction of beads came to Oceti Sakowin peoples through trade in the early 1800s. The first beads, “called ‘pony’ beads, came into use on the plains in the early 1800s but were not present in any quantity among many groups until the 1830s.”[5] Shortly after the introduction of pony beads, women began incorporating the beads onto garments and accessories, while learning how to apply a new technology. “Most of the beads introduced…were made of glass, a material unknown to...native cultures.”[6] By 1850, “a small ‘seed’ bead was introduced among the Sioux and neighboring tribes…Initially, they were employed in the geometric patterns typical of quill and pony beadwork.[7] By examination of earlier beadwork, there is a clear timeline of quillworkers adapting beadwork into their creative endeavors, through the process of lazy-stitch beadwork techniques:

When first introduced and throughout much of their period of use, pony beads were simply used to trim quilled designs. But as more beads became available, artisans experimented with doing whole patterns solely in beads. These patterns were generally similar in size and style to quillwork. Initially, beadwork patterns consisted of solid bands less than 15 cm wide with designs of bars, tall triangles, diamonds and squares, highly reminiscent of the earlier quillwork. The techniques adopted to sew beads were in fact, very closely related to quill sewing.

Although the introduction of seed beads transformed the processes of quillworking, the associated traditions were adopted into beadwork practice, since, after all, “we have always been changing, practicing our traditions, allowing them to evolve and mutate, survive, and thrive.”[8] Oceti Sakowin women still congregated within groups to practice their art, they continued to maintain protocols associated with creating art, just as Anukite instructed them.

[1] Julia Bebbington documents how the different size quills were used: “the larger quills were used to cover broad backgrounds or to wrap weapon handles and fringes, while the smaller quills were employed for delicate line work.” Julia Bebbington, Quillwork of the Plains (Calgary: Glenbow-Alberta Institute, 1982), 11–13. 

[2] Research evidence can be located in the following locations:  Bebbington, Quillwork of the Plains, 6; H.M. Wormington and R.G. Forbis, eds., An Introduction to the Archaeology of Alberta, Canada (Denver, Colorado: Denver Museum of Natural History, 1960), 155.

[3] Berlo, “Dreaming of Double Woman: The Ambivalent Role of the Female Artist in North American Indian Myth,” 33.

[4] I want to briefly mention, many Indigenous peoples in North America had bead-like material before colonization. For example, the Iroquois fashioned wampum, coastal tribes used shells, and southwest communities used stone. All of these items were seen throughout the northern plains because of Indigenous trade routes that connect Indigenous peoples and artistic technologies. See: Lois Dubin, The History of Beads: From 100,000 B.C. to the Present (New York: Abrams, n.d.), 265–263.

[5] Dubin, The History of Beads: From 100,000 B.C. to the Present, 273.

[6] Bebbington, Quillwork of the Plains, 26–29.

[7] Ibid. 26.

[8] Teves, in Native Studies Keywords. 267.