Culture meets craft
4-H camp hosts traditional bead working workshop
BY CAMMIE WRIGHT
cammie@nordaknorth.com
A group situated around L - shaped table in the Johnsrud Library stare contently at a small needle and a pile of beads as they learn a new craft. Like school students, they raise their hands to ask a question to the instructor, Meya Rojas, who is leading a workshop in traditional Native American beading. Rojas, from the White Earth Band in northern Minnesota, taught a beading workshop at the 4-H camp in Washburn recently. Facilitated by the North Dakota State University Extension center for 4-H, Rojas taught participants the craft of beading and provided insight into the cultural importance of the craftwork for her ancestors. “When the settlers came, we traded beads for fur,” Rojas said. “It was a new artform for us to express ourselves. Beads were expensive because if you didn’t have a hunter in the family, you couldn’t afford beads. How you dressed your family was very important, and beadwork was a part of that.”
