Ingredients: The Fry Bread Art Interview with Alyssa Wilson
By: Emma Saville
LAWRENCE-Alyssa Wilson is a beadwork artist from the Hoopa Valley Tribe in Hoopa, California, using traditional materials and ways of beading. She is also a sophomore at Haskell Indian Nations University (Haskell), pursuing an associate’s degree in liberal arts and a bachelor’s degree in business administration.
She has been beadworking for five years.
Fry Bread Art: How did you begin beadworking?
Wilson: It was during COVID, and my grandma, I grew up with her always beading [and] she kind of got away from it. When I moved in with her, we both started beading again. She doesn’t do round beading; she does our traditional beading, which is like some of the stuff that I sell. Then I started picking up different things. I learned how to make key chains. Then I started getting into round beading, because I wanted to kind of reconnect with my dad’s side of the family and their culture [Comanche]. I learned that was a big thing with their culture, so I just started picking it up. I started mixing it with stuff I would see back home, like our traditional items and our significant colors.
Fry Bread Art: Can you tell us about those significant colors and how you incorporate them into your art?
Wilson: Our significant colors are: red, black, white, tan, green, and blue. Red is significant because of the woodpecker. We use woodpecker scalps and [other items] on a lot of our regalia.
Then, white. We have a white deer skin dance. There used to be a lot of white deer, and if you were a significant big-time hunter, you could kill one and then use it for our ceremonies, because we do it for our world renewal ceremony every other year. White is a big color. Then blues because there’s a river that runs through our valley. Green is because we’re surrounded by mountains and trees.
Fry Bread Art: We saw you use weaving on some of your earrings and medallions. How did you get into weaving?
Wilson: My grandmother was the one. I’m still trying to learn how to weave, so I’ve been trying to re-pick up the bear grass [weaving]. My grandma does a lot of weaving, and even her mother, my great-grandmother, was a weaver. Her mom never taught her; she made her learn from someone else, and eventually they started making baskets and stuff together. But that’s just one of the significant tribal arts back home. We depended on a weaver to survive because they made the bowls, plates, and cooking baskets. Even in our ceremonies, they carry medicine in the baskets.
Fry Bread Art: We also noticed in your work, you use a lot of abalone. Can you tell us how you developed it into your art style?
Wilson: Abalone is one of those significant materials that everyone uses because we’re coastal. I grew to love it, because it reminds me of back home, even here I don’t see a lot of abalone either, which is what started influencing that a lot. I love it. All the colors can go with abalone, like red and all those other colors you would never think of. It’s just one of the things that I really enjoy working with. Dentalium [shell] is one of my favorites too.
Fry Bread Art: How do you incorporate your culture into the work you sell and make for others?
Wilson: I try to always carry good medicine and good vibes all the time. I get into making stuff from back home. I’ll look up older pictures and regalia styles that haven’t been used recently, or things like that and try to reinvent it in my own way. Or I’ll just leave something set out and wait until I have the idea, and it’ll come in. Also sometimes I have dreams about earrings and like them. I’ll keep dreaming about it until I make the earrings.
Fry Bread Art: Do you have a preferred accessory or item that you gravitate towards making, can you kind of walk us through your process?
Wilson: I do a lot of everything, honestly. I don’t ever stick to one style. I try to do different things. Recently, my new thing is I want to get into the fashion show that’s happening at Haskell May 3rd, so I’ve been trying to work on some pieces for that. I mainly make earrings, but I try to one up myself every time. I’m always trying to get better, looking up different color schemes, it’s always gonna be something different and new.
Fry Bread Art: Do you have a project you’re proud of that you would like to share with us?
Wilson: When I first started beading, I was trying to figure out my style and what I’m trying to say with my beadwork. I would probably say the last year or two, I finally figured out what I’m trying to say. I finished my dress within that time, and it’s like a big deal to finish. It’s fully beaded and my great-grandpa, he made the loom to do that on. There’s no loom that you can buy to do that on, that’s something I’m proud of, I love to show it off.
Fry Bread Art: You mentioned the dress you completed will not dance. Can you tell us about what dancing means in your culture?
Wilson: Dancing in our culture is medicine and healing. The dances we practice now are the Brush Dance which is for a sick person which we believes brings good medicine to heal them and everyone honestly, the flower dance which is for when a girl has her first period and transitions to a woman, every other year we have a world renewal ceremony which takes two dances to complete, the first being the white deerskin dance (which i would say is the most sacred) and a jump dance both we take time to give thanks for our needs to be met and put the world back in balance.
Fry Bread Art: Is there anything else you would like to say?
Wilson: My grandmother and my mother have both been influential with my art and helping me just figure out who I am, to figure out what I want to do with my art. I think that’s important to know, not everyone has that ability, especially now, and especially over here because we weren’t ever really fully colonized [Hoopa Valley Tribe], which I’m also proud to say because cultures were assimilated and lost everything. But she’s shown me and just taught me everything I know. They both have.
Check out Wilson’s work on her Instagram @20_froggies_designz.
