Native American Beadwork Workshop

A Native American beadwork workshop with artist Alan Groves. Groves is a member of the Northern Ute and Hopi tribes. Before contact with Europeans, Native Americans used natural media for their art and using porcupine quills was a very common practice. This changed after contact with Europeans because trading offered them other materials to use. The Utes were one of the first tribes to have horses which allowed them to trade for glass beads early on. Today, Utes are known for their intricate beadwork using glass seed beads. As a teacher and an artist, Alan implements ideas from Native American culture and art in his classroom. He strongly believes exposure to a broad variety of perspectives will help our youth deal with the global issues that they will face. By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils in collaboration with local partners. The initiative was developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.