3 minute read
Cultural Sharing Through Beadwork (The Glen, Winter 2024)
Throughout the month of November students in Grade 6 had the opportunity to connect with Cree-Métis beadwork artist Marissa Magneson. Over three sessions Marissa taught the students how to bead, creating beaded poppies throughout the process.
Part of our commitment to exploring Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Being more deeply includes creating opportunities for the students to connect with Indigenous peoples and learn about their culture and traditions while coming to understand their enduring presence. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission published a series of Calls to Action in 2015 that call us to, among other things, “[build] student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect.”
Through her visits to the school Marissa shared not only the process and art of beadwork, but also shared some of her language and cultural practice. Among other words, we learned that the Cree for ‘thank you’ is ‘hiy hiy’ (pronounced ‘high high’). Her visits fell on National Indigenous Veterans Day and just before Louis Riel Day. While the students worked on their beadwork, Marissa spoke with them about the importance of both days and the meaning behind why each is commemorated.
One student shared that she appreciated the opportunity to learn about Cree and Métis culture and traditions and enjoyed learning about Indigenous Veterans Day and Louis Riel. She felt that this provided an opportunity for the whole grade to learn many important things that they may not have known about otherwise. Marissa explained that beadwork is a traditional form of art for many groups of Indigenous peoples around the world, but specifically taught us about the Métis practice. It was also wonderful to learn about the stories and messages that could be shared through the different sashes worn by the Métis.
The students thoroughly enjoyed the process of learning to bead, even if I was challenging to learn initially. After a few sessions they found the process to be very rewarding and many noted feelings of pride and accomplishment as they saw their poppy come together.
Another student noted that he found beading to be incredibly calming and relaxing. “After learning the process from Marissa, I enjoyed doing the activity at home,” he said. “It had a very calming effect on my typical day. I would come home, make tea, and get beading.”
A group of staff and faculty also had the opportunity to learn from Marissa through a series of after-school workshops. Like the students, we learned the beading technique and also created our own beaded poppies. We were also able to learn from Marissa about her own cultural practices and her research into beadwork as pedagogy.
We would like to say hiy hiy to Marissa for sharing her time and practice with us. She also taught us that in the Cree language people do not say ‘goodbye’, but rather say ‘see you later,’ so we are excited to see her later as we continue to foster this relationship in teaching and learning for years to come.
More information about Marissa and her work can be found at https://www.marissamagneson.com/about. She can also be found on Instagram @MagnesonStudios and @MarissaMagnesonPhotography.
