Browse Items (51 total)

This bag is very similar to the Oberlin bag and probably nearly as old. Sturdy in construction, tightly woven to keep out dust, and naturally resistant to insects, bags like this stayed in use for many years as the repair adjacent to a large scorch…

Handbags like this are still considered standard personal accessories for Plateau women today. Highly individual in their decorative treatment, they are used on special occasions and are explicit assertions of Indian identity.

Schlick…

Possibly a handbag for a child’s doll, or a personal accessory that a senior woman might pin on her dress like a brooch, miniature bags have always been made as a way to demonstrate the weaver’s skill. This bag was made by a Yakama weaver named Lena…

Twined belts with fold-over purses are typically worn by women as part of their fancy dress regalia. This example is beautifully embroidered with floral and foliate designs whose intricacy is reminiscent of needlepoint.

Schlick…

Schlick Collection

Cornhusk, leather

Not to be mistaken for tourist trinkets, personal ornaments like these earrings provide a way for Native women to both “wear” their identity and show off the virtuosity of the weaver’s craft.

Schlick Collection

Cornhusk, yarn, leather

Nine squares containing star motifs provide an example of an overall design pattern that utilizes many colors and shapes on a plain twined bag that is completed with a leather handle.

Southwest Museum, Los Angeles

Hemp, cornhusk, natural fiber…

This bag features a dramatic banded design that is embroidered in a zig-zag motif with brightly colored yarns in purple, red, green, turquoise and black.

Schlick Collection

Hemp, cornhusk, colored yarns, leather

Cornhusk embroidery on this bag forms an X-shaped design that is complemented by outlining and the use of variable color hues that add dimension to the centralized design.

Southwest Museum, Los Angeles

Hemp, cornhusk, leather

The intricate design of roosters, eagles, and butterflies embroidered in colorful woolen yarns on this early 20th century handbag is quite unusual and must have had special meaning for the weaver who created it.

Schlick Collection

Corn husk,…