Stepping Into Womanhood

Celebrating Women Series

“…you are introduced to sewing, crafts like embroidering, sewing with porcupine quills, and beading… It seems like how you did during that time was the formation of your life as an adult… Nothing was written or read, everything was oral, but even today I still remember all that was told to me when I, too, had to go through that phase of life, when I stepped into womanhood.” Mary Wilson (“From the Land Two Hundred Years of Dene Clothing”)

A young girl’s introduction to womanhood is reflected in the rites and traditions of a culture. Stepping Into Womanhood is a visual interpretation of the Dene tradition of honouring this transition through the teaching of crafts and folklore.

Learning to bead, embroider and work with quills often translated into the lifetime skills of patience, perseverance and pride. Taken forward into life as a woman, these virtues encouraged a sense of responsibility and commitment to becoming strong family and community leaders.

* The motifs in this painting were inspired by artifacts featured in the book “From the Land: Two Hundred Years of Dene Clothing”, by Judy Thompson, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1994.

• Image Size: 22 ½” h x 7 ½” w
• Edition Size: 300