Shop beaded earrings Here!
Tansi!
Teal Fawn Designs is a 100% Indigenous owned and operated business!
About the artist:
My name is Maria Livingston, I am a member of the Bigstone Cree First Nation. I currently live in Southern Alberta Canada. I am a proud mother of two beautiful children.
I have always had a passion for creativity, just ask my mother about my drawings on the wall as a toddler! Speaking of, my mother Margaret has continued to foster my creativity and taught me many of my skills. This includes sewing, beading and fish scale art. She focuses on making ribbon skirts and her amazing work can be found here: Flower Song by Margaret Etsy shop
I first began beading when I was a teenager in order to make my own pow wow regalia. Later in my 20's, my passion for beading and creating artwork really became a main part of my life and my identity. I began selling my beadwork to friends and family and took the leap to become a registered business in 2019.
Importance of Beading:
Sharing my cultural pride through visual arts such as beading and hoop dancing has become a very intrinsic part of who I am and how I identify as a Nehiyaw Iskwew (Cree Woman).
Beading is one of the oldest forms of First Nations culture, it dates back prior to European contact. Many materials, methods and designs have changed since then. In Nehiyaw culture, floral designs are traditionally depicted—which is why I continue to use floral designs in the beadwork I sell, as well as in my own hoop dance regalia. At pow wows, many Indigenous cultures will have themes throughout their beadwork (which can be certain themes, motifs, patterns etc.) and if you attend a lot of pow wows, you may be able to recognize some of the differences! Although the beadwork you see nowadays is often very contemporary, at its core, beading is rooted in First Nations/ Indigenous cultures and a true expression of cultural pride and identity.
Beading is a
way for me to stay connected to my culture and it teaches me a lot of values such as humility, patience and work ethic. In all of my work, I sew on anywhere between 1-3 beads at a time. So there is a lot of love and time put into my work and the work of other Indigenous Artists.
I aspire to continue growing my business and teaching my children that with hard work and passion, you can create a beautiful life for yourself!
