Quillwork
Encyclopedia
Quillwork is a form of textile
embellishment traditionally practiced by Native Americans
that employs the quill
s of porcupine
s as a decorative element.
to Alaska
. The earliest known quillwork was found in Alberta, Canada and dates back to the 6th century CE.
Cheyenne
oral history
, as told by Picking Bones Woman to George Bird Grinnell, says quilling came to their tribe from a man who married a woman, who hid her true identity as a buffalo. His son was also a buffalo. The man visited his wife and son in their buffalo home, and, while among the buffalo, the man learned the art of quilling, which he shared with the women of his tribe.
Joining the Cheyenne Quilling Society was a prestigious honor for Cheyenne women. Upon entering the Society, women would work first on quilling moccasins
, then cradleboards, rosettes for men's shirts and tipi
s, and ultimately, hide robes and backrests.
Porcupine quills often adorned rawhide and tanned hides, but during the 19th century, quilled birch bark boxes
were a popular trade item to sell to European-Americans among Eastern and Great Lakes tribes.
Quills suitable for embellishment are two to three inches long and may be dyed before use. In their natural state, the quills are pale yellow to white with black tips. The tips are usually snipped off before use. Quill readily take dye, which originally was derived from local plants and included colors such as black, yellow, red, and blue. By the 19th century, aniline dyes were available through trade and greatly expanded the quilling palette.
The four most common techniques for quillwork are appliqué
, embroidery
, wrapping, and loom
weaving. Appliquéd quills are stitched into hide in a manner that covers the stitches. In wrapping, a single quill may be wrapped upon itself or two quills may be intertwined.
Quills can be appliquéd singly to form curvilinear patterns, as found on Odawa
pouches from the 18th century. This technique lends itself to floral designs popularized among northeastern tribes by Ursuline nuns.
Huron women excelled at floral quillwork during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Plains
quillwork is characterized by bands of rectangles creating geometrical patterns found also in Plains painting. Rosettes of concentric circles of quillwork commonly adorned historical Plains men's shirts, as did parallel panels of quillwork on the sleeves.
The Red River Ojibwe
of Manitoba
created crisp, geometric patterns by weaving quills on a loom in the 19th century.
community of Wha Ti, Northwest Territories
by the late 1990s. The Dene Cultural Institute held two workshops there in 1999 and 2000, effectively reviving quillwork in Wha Ti.
The art form is very much alive today. Examples of contemporary, award-winning quillworkers include Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty
, (Sioux
-Assiniboine) artist; Dorothy Brave Eagle (Oglala Lakota
) of Denver, Colorado
; Kanatiiosh (Akwesasne Mohawk
) of St. Regis Mohawk Reservation; Cathy A. Smith of Galisteo, New Mexico
; Leonda Fast Buffalo Horse (Blackfeet
) of Browning, Montana
; and Deborah Magee Sherer (Blackfeet
) of Cut Bank, Montana
.
Northern Lakes College
of Alberta, Canada teaches a college-level course in quill work art.
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
embellishment traditionally practiced by Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
that employs the quill
Quill
A quill pen is a writing implement made from a flight feather of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen, metal-nibbed pens, the fountain pen, and, eventually, the ballpoint pen...
s of porcupine
Porcupine
Porcupines are rodents with a coat of sharp spines, or quills, that defend or camouflage them from predators. They are indigenous to the Americas, southern Asia, and Africa. Porcupines are the third largest of the rodents, behind the capybara and the beaver. Most porcupines are about long, with...
s as a decorative element.
History
Porcupine quillwork is an art form completely unique to North America. Before the introduction of glass beads, quillwork was a major decorative element used by the peoples who resided in the porcupine's natural habitat. The use of quills in designs spans from MaineMaine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
to Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
. The earliest known quillwork was found in Alberta, Canada and dates back to the 6th century CE.
Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...
oral history
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
, as told by Picking Bones Woman to George Bird Grinnell, says quilling came to their tribe from a man who married a woman, who hid her true identity as a buffalo. His son was also a buffalo. The man visited his wife and son in their buffalo home, and, while among the buffalo, the man learned the art of quilling, which he shared with the women of his tribe.
Joining the Cheyenne Quilling Society was a prestigious honor for Cheyenne women. Upon entering the Society, women would work first on quilling moccasins
Moccasin (footwear)
A moccasin is a slipper made of deerskin or other soft leather, consisting of a sole and sides made of one piece of leather, stitched together at the top, and sometimes with a vamp . Though sometimes worn inside, it is chiefly intended for outdoor use, as in exploring wildernesses and running from...
, then cradleboards, rosettes for men's shirts and tipi
Tipi
A tipi is a Lakota name for a conical tent traditionally made of animal skins and wooden poles used by the nomadic tribes and sedentary tribal dwellers of the Great Plains...
s, and ultimately, hide robes and backrests.
Porcupine quills often adorned rawhide and tanned hides, but during the 19th century, quilled birch bark boxes
Wiigwaasi-makak
A wiigwaasi-makak , meaning "birch-bark box" in the Anishinaabe language, is a box made of panels of birchbark sewn together with watap...
were a popular trade item to sell to European-Americans among Eastern and Great Lakes tribes.
Technique
The four most common techniques for quillwork are appliqué
Applique
In its broadest sense, an appliqué is a smaller ornament or device applied to another surface. In the context of ceramics, for example, an appliqué is a separate piece of clay added to the primary work, generally for the purpose of decoration...
, embroidery
Embroidery
Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....
, wrapping, and loom
Loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads...
weaving. Appliquéd quills are stitched into hide in a manner that covers the stitches. In wrapping, a single quill may be wrapped upon itself or two quills may be intertwined.
Quills can be appliquéd singly to form curvilinear patterns, as found on Odawa
Odawa people
The Odawa or Ottawa, said to mean "traders," are a Native American and First Nations people. They are one of the Anishinaabeg, related to but distinct from the Ojibwe nation. Their original homelands are located on Manitoulin Island, near the northern shores of Lake Huron, on the Bruce Peninsula in...
pouches from the 18th century. This technique lends itself to floral designs popularized among northeastern tribes by Ursuline nuns.
Ursulines
The Ursulines are a Roman Catholic religious order for women founded at Brescia, Italy, by Saint Angela de Merici in November 1535, primarily for the education of girls and the care of the sick and needy. Their patron saint is Saint Ursula.-History:St Angela de Merici spent 17 years leading a...
Huron women excelled at floral quillwork during the 18th and 19th centuries.
Plains
Plains Indians
The Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and resistance to White domination have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.Plains...
quillwork is characterized by bands of rectangles creating geometrical patterns found also in Plains painting. Rosettes of concentric circles of quillwork commonly adorned historical Plains men's shirts, as did parallel panels of quillwork on the sleeves.
The Red River Ojibwe
Pembina Band of Chippewa Indians
Pembina Band of Chippewa Indians are a historical band of Chippewa , originally living along the Red River of the North and its tributaries....
of Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
created crisp, geometric patterns by weaving quills on a loom in the 19th century.
Today
Quillwork never died out as a living art form in the Northern Plains. Some communities that had lost their quillwork tradition have been able to revive the art form. For instance, no women quilled in the DeneDene
The Dene are an aboriginal group of First Nations who live in the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dené speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene is the common Athabaskan word for "people" . The term "Dene" has two usages...
community of Wha Ti, Northwest Territories
Wha Ti, Northwest Territories
Whatì , officially the Tlicho Community Government of Whatì is a community in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Whatì is located by Lac La Martre, about northwest of the territorial capital of Yellowknife.As of the 2006 Census the population was 460, the majority of...
by the late 1990s. The Dene Cultural Institute held two workshops there in 1999 and 2000, effectively reviving quillwork in Wha Ti.
The art form is very much alive today. Examples of contemporary, award-winning quillworkers include Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty
Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty
Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty is an award-winning Assiniboine-Sioux bead worker and porcupine quill worker, who creates traditional Northern Plains regalia.-Background:...
, (Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
-Assiniboine) artist; Dorothy Brave Eagle (Oglala Lakota
Oglala Lakota
The Oglala Lakota or Oglala Sioux are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people; along with the Nakota and Dakota, they make up the Great Sioux Nation. A majority of the Oglala live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the eighth-largest Native American reservation in the...
) of Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
; Kanatiiosh (Akwesasne Mohawk
Akwesasne
The Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne is a Mohawk Nation territory that straddles the intersection of international and provincial borders on both banks of the Saint Lawrence River. Most of the land is in what is otherwise the United States...
) of St. Regis Mohawk Reservation; Cathy A. Smith of Galisteo, New Mexico
Galisteo, New Mexico
Galisteo is a census-designated place in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States. It is part of the Santa Fe, New Mexico Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 265 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...
; Leonda Fast Buffalo Horse (Blackfeet
Blackfeet
The Piegan Blackfeet are a tribe of Native Americans of the Algonquian language family based in Montana, having lived in this area since around 6,500 BC. Many members of the tribe live as part of the Blackfeet Nation in northwestern Montana, with population centered in Browning...
) of Browning, Montana
Browning, Montana
Browning is a town in Glacier County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,016 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Browning is located at ....
; and Deborah Magee Sherer (Blackfeet
Blackfeet
The Piegan Blackfeet are a tribe of Native Americans of the Algonquian language family based in Montana, having lived in this area since around 6,500 BC. Many members of the tribe live as part of the Blackfeet Nation in northwestern Montana, with population centered in Browning...
) of Cut Bank, Montana
Cut Bank, Montana
Cut Bank is a city in and the county seat of Glacier County, Montana, United States located just east-south-east of the "cut bank" geographical feature which formed canyon-like along the eponymously named Cut Bank Creek river...
.
Northern Lakes College
Northern Lakes College
Northern Lakes College is a publicly-funded comprehensive community college in north-central Alberta, Canada.Administrative offices are located in Slave Lake and Grouard, Alberta, with a staff of more than 275 working in more than 30 campuses...
of Alberta, Canada teaches a college-level course in quill work art.