Another participant on the first Zoom was Melaw Nakehk’o, who is Dene and Denesuline, from the Liidlii Kue First Nation in the Northwest Territories. This was Nakehk’o’s first time doing a beading circle online, but the experience helped her feel a sense of calm, as well as a connection to her roots. “My late grandmother taught me how to bead when I was very young,” she says. “I feel close to her [when] I bead and draw her flowers and designs. I love to trace her flowers and think of her hands, think that she must have loved doing this kind of work as much as I do.”

Beadwork by Melaw Nakehk’o Photo: Courtesy of Melaw Nakehk’o

Larsson’s Zoom beadwork sessions have inspired other artists to use the craft for good as well. Jamie Okuma—a Shoshone-Bannock and Luiseño artist based on the La Jolla Indian Reservation in Pauma Valley, California—has been in the process of developing online beadwork tutorials for her 46,000 followers. In the near future, she plans to collaborate with a number of small indigenous businesses. If her followers purchase a piece from a certain set of brands, she will send a number of them their own beading kit and host a Zoom tutorial on how to use it. “You learn from each other,” says Okuma. “Everybody beads differently; there’s no one way to do it.” The artist also says there’s power in hosting a circle now, given the circumstances. “If there’s a bright side to any of this, it is making us have more human contact,” she says.

Larsson agrees about the healing power of the beading circle. “There’s an underlying panic and anxiety, and people really fearing for things,” she says. “Whenever you’re in a circle, you get to talk about those anxieties. It’s a nice way to be able to keep practicing our culture, sharing with each other, and giving each other tips on how to deal with the situation right now, so that you don’t feel alone.”