Bandolier Bags with Joanne Soldier

Bandolier Bags with Joanne Soldier
Saturdays, November 28, and December 5 and 12, 2015, 1-4pm at MAWA

The beaded bandolier bag is distinctive to North American Indigenous communities in the Great Lakes and Plains regions. These unique bags, traditionally made by women, played a highly ceremonial role. Joanne Soldier will explain this significance and take you through the many steps in making a bandolier bag with beaded floral designs. A special, behind-the-scenes visit to the Manitoba Museum to see their collection of antique bandolier bags and beadworks is included in this workshop. Learn about this form, its history, its cultural role and its fabrication.

Originating from Swan Lake First Nation in South Central Manitoba, Joanne Soldier’s tribal affiliation is Woodland/Plains Ojibway. She now lives in Winnipeg with her partner and their 7 year-old daughter. She was awarded the Aboriginal Arts Creative Development Grant through Manitoba Arts Council in 2012, which enabled her to focus on her passion for fully beaded bandolier bags made by the Ojibway people from the 1700s to the early 1900s. Soldier researched the making of bandolier bags at the Mille Lacs Indian Museum and the Minnesota Historical Society, which have bags in their collections that are 200-300 years old. During this research, one thing that stood out for her was that the beads used were much smaller than contemporary beads, which made the bags even more striking. Soldier is continually researching and refining her art in floral beadwork, and she has a photograph collection of more than 6,000 images of beading. She also does commissioned work as a way to hone her craft.