Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Fond du Lac Arts is a series exploring the stories, creative expression, and craftsmanship of Fond du Lac artists from a range of disciplines.
This project is produced by AMPERS, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities in partnership with WGZS, the Radio Voice of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
INTRO: You are listening to Fond du Lac Arts: Community through the Creative Arts.
NARRATOR: Maggie Thompson first learned how to sew and knit in fourth grade. She made a knitted flute case and a beaded belt. That convergence of pulling thread through fabric and creating whole pieces from yarn and beads led her to becoming a textile artist.
MAGGIE THOMPSON: I'm interested in exploring traditional techniques, and how to use them with contemporary materials or experimental materials. So I'll use something that, say, mimics quill work, but isn't a quill, like flattening a straw.
NARRATOR: She might draw on the visual language of beadwork to create a textile pattern. Or use beads in a larger work, like The Hospital Gown Project.
MAGGIE: And that's based off my experience of being in the hospital with a close family member and almost losing them to alcoholism. And just speaking to my family history with alcoholism and reflecting on the impacts of that.
NARRATOR: For the project, she’s inviting community members into her studio to bead with her.
MAGGIE: People come in and we'll teach them how to do brick stitch.
NARRATOR: They get to choose their own beads, different sizes, shapes, the colors varying blue to blue green and white.
MAGGIE: And so they each contribute a little swatch that we're now working on stitching together to become the shape of a hospital gown.
NARRATOR: And a work of healing.
MAGGIE: And I think in our in native culture, it's like all of us, I feel, are creative in some way, and it's really important to tap into that, because, at least for me, it brings me stability and helps me understand things in process. It's a lot of processing grief or things that I have a hard time talking about. So it is kind of like an art therapy for me.
OUTRO: Fond du Lac Arts is produced by AMPERS and WGZS, the radio voice of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.