First shawl

Beaded for my first convocation ceremony as a member of the academic procession in 2019, this shawl carries stories of kin and community.

The shawl was cut from black melton tradecloth in the atrium of the law school by Kelly Duquette. She used a Red River Shawl pattern gifted to her during her own journey to reclaim beadwork practice, and cut the fringe freehand with the confidence of someone with scissors as an extension of her hand.

The front of the shawl carries 8 flowers, mostly 5-petal flowers frequently seen in Métis floral beadwork. Each of the flowers represents a 2019 JD graduate. Beads, cabochons, and colours were chosen to represent the individual graduates. Special details include an antler button sourced in Dawson City, Yukon and gifted to me by my mother; a single hand-blown Venetian glass bead in the centre of the yellow bloom, and a fine line of gold-plated beads connecting the flowers in lieu of a vine.

Over the heart is Àbimì, a symbol developed by the Beauty of Beaders in 2019 in close consultation with 2019 graduates.

The back of the shawl was designed by a 2019 graduate named Maryse Piché-Benard. The figures represent me and my three children, a reoccurring theme in my beadwork practice. The baby is represented in a cradle board beaded in the colours of her real-life moss bag. The older children are depicted wearing Métis dress: my son is shown in a green and blue ribbon shirt with an Assumption Sash at his waist and moccasins on his feet; my daughter in a rose-coloured dress beaded to depict movement from toes jigging in high-top moccasins, with a sash over her left shoulder. I am depicted in a purple ribbon skirt with seven ribbons, including one in 10 karat gold-plated beads.

Around the family are berries and buds, including a prairie crocus, from home. A second bud is beaded in colours chosen by the children at ages 2, 5, and 6 - as they then were.

The shawl is lined in red, the colour of the Faculty’s convocation regalia. It was sewn by hand by Professor Marina Pavlovic.