After moving to Cleveland in 2019, Beth Bush was feeling culturally disconnected from her Potawatomi tribe in Michigan.
It prompted her to return to her practice of Indigenous beading and learn the ancient art of quill work.
“To me, it's important,” Bush said. “It's a way of me reclaiming what was taken from us.”
Bush has not only reconnected to her heritage, but she’s also become an award-winning artist.
Quill art is a pre-historic art form that utilizes porcupine quills dating from before European settlers arrived in North America.
“It's like the oldest decoration that we have. It was before beads. It was our first way of decorating, like our moccasins and our coats, our bags,” Bush said. “It was prevalent before the fur trade came.”
Working with quills is a long process that includes multiple steps.
“The quills I have come from Montana,” Bush said. “I trade my earrings for these quills. And then I take the quills: I wash the quills, I sort the quills, I dye the quills, I sort quills again. And then I choose the best that I like.”
Longtime Clevelander Robbi Swift is a member of the Whitefish River First Nation in Ontario, Canada, and said she is impressed by how quickly Bush picked up this ancient tradition.
“She has really leaps and bounds honed her skill with quill work, and she's willing to do things the right way,” Swift said. “She takes her ideas from nature the way it should be done.”
Last summer Bush went to the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis for its annual market and festival where she won a Harrison Eiteljorg Purchase Award.
“That was awesome,” she said. “It's in the museum now, so other people get to see it. That's really cool.”
Bush said she hopes to host quill workshops more frequently in Northeast Ohio.
“My main goal is to teach people so they can teach other people,” Bush said. “There's not a lot of people who do it, and it needs to be brought back.”
Swift is passionate about sharing Indigenous history and culture in the United States and praises Bush for her work.
“It's who we are,” Swift said. “It’s why we work so hard to keep our children involved in it, so they understand, ‘This is who you are. This is what your people did long before there were any settlers here.’"
