Madison Dawn Nickerson

Alaskan native art

At the mere age of 6, my first day of native arts class was spent learning the basic rules of tool safety, and being taught the pledge of allegiance in my native tongue, Tlingit. Since we were just kids with little hands, we started out carefully beading simple necklaces. After weeks of practicing with needle and thread, eventually we were given a pair of fiskars and felt fabric, to cut out the shapes that would become our first beading projects.