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Cheryl Shenandoah | Indigenous Fine Artist

@cherylshenandoah

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Contemporary Indigenous Fine Artist
Haudenosaunee raised beadwork & work across mediums
One-of-a-kind original works

POSTS STORIES REELS

🌹🖤💃🏻 by @cherylshenandoah

Ecuador 🇪🇨

#Otavalo #Ecuador #Andes #ecuadortravel by @cherylshenandoah

One of my favorite experiences in Ecuador 🤎

While in Otavalo, I got the chance to learn traditional backstrap weaving in a Kichwa community.

#KichwaOtavalo #BackstrapWeaving #TraditionalWeaving #TextileArt FiberArt IndigenousArt by @cherylshenandoah

Among Pines

Deerskin leather, glass seed beads, sinew, turkey feathers
18 x 36 in.

View at cherylshenandoah.com – link in bio

#HaudenosauneeArt #indigenousart #NativeAmericanArt #Beadwork #CherylShenandoah by @cherylshenandoah

I was honored to work on this project for the NICU center at Crouse Hospital. It was a project that is very close to my heart as I had a son who passed away at birth. Mutaz would be 14 years old and, in a way, I did this to honor him.
My vision was to create a sense of calm and hopefulness in a time of worry and uncertainty. As family and loved ones visit their babies in the NICU, I know they are filled with worry, wishing and praying for the best.
Traditionally dreamcatchers are used to capture bad dreams (energy, thoughts, etc.) in its web and allow the good to flow through the center. My hope is that these dreamcatchers will do the same for everyone visiting a loved one in the NICU.
I created each dreamcatcher with the babies in my prayers and their loved ones in my thoughts. by @cherylshenandoah

The Two Row Wampum (or Guswenta) is one of the oldest and most significant foundational treaties between Indigenous peoples and European settlers in North America. Originating in 1613 between the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and the Dutch, it outlines a mutual agreement for sovereign, peaceful coexistence without interference or assimilation. The agreement is physically recorded using a wampum belt made of purple and white quahog shell beads.

The Haudenosaunee view the Two Row Wampum not just as a historical event but as a living treaty. It forms the conceptual basis for all of their subsequent treaties with European and North American governments, including the Covenant Chain with the British and the Treaty of Canandaigua with the United States.

Mind also that the entire structure of United "States" government is based on the leading example of the Haudenosaunee. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy, also known historically as the Iroquois Confederacy or League of Five Nations, is a historic alliance of six Indigenous nations: the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora. They are located primarily in present-day New York state, Ontario, and Quebec. Often recognized as the oldest living participatory democracy on Earth, the Confederacy is celebrated for its matriarchal governance and foundational Great Law of Peace.

This Two Row Wampum belt replica is made by the Native American artist and beader @cherylshenandoah, who is based in Syracuse, NY. It is the first collaboration in this series of boxes. I intend to collaborate a lot more with women, specifically, and continue to explore how a female perspective on remembrance, protest, riots, care, equality, and justice can engage with this body of work.

"Riot Box (Wampum)" wood, glass, stain, two-row wampum belt, copper, 9 x 4 x 11in (2026)

#art #readymade #sculpture #nativeamerican by @cherylshenandoah

They were Children

I created this orange floral arrangement in a handmade child sized coffin with blood stained hands for an event to honor the victims and survivors of residential schools - institutions of genocide.

Thousands and thousands of Native children were ripped from their families, sent to religious boarding schools, stripped of their self worth and many never returned home in the US and Canada as part of their genocide plan.
This is the history that isn’t taught. Many people have no idea about residential schools. They need to know.

Please repost and share.

#neverforget #noprideingenocide #nativechildrenmatter #everychildmatters🧡 by @cherylshenandoah

Isn’t she lovely?! 🥰
#native #beadwork #cornhuskdolls #handmade #indigenous by @cherylshenandoah

I’m very proud of this piece! It’s over 5ft long and absolutely gorgeous in person. by @cherylshenandoah

Tried my best to capture the sparkle and iridescence of my dreamcatchers with my amateur (non-existent) photography skills. Just know they are 1000x more captivating in real life.
Any photographers that think they can do them justice, hit me up. by @cherylshenandoah

Heart Pillow Whimsey
Raised Beadwork on purple velvet, filled with saw dust.
#traditional #Haudenosaunee by @cherylshenandoah

💙

Took a little break but I’m back on my sewing/beading grind. #takingorders #custombeadwork

#moccasins #feelingblue #nativebeading #haudenosauneebeadwork #nativeamerican #indigenous #beadwork #beadwork #watchuwant by @cherylshenandoah