When Navonne Benally first learned how to bead from their grandma around 17 years ago, it was not their “cup of tea.” They recall the process being incredibly intricate and involved, requiring every bead to be stitched and sewn individually. At the time, they were more interested in being a teenager.
“Later on, I was like, ‘Wow, I really want to teach myself how to do this,’” they said. “Because it kind of tied into my sobriety as well. Being able to be on the red road, ‘Okay, what is a healthy coping mechanism that isn’t going to empty out my pockets?’”
In 2020, they did just that, exploring with beading and watercolors. Benally has been drawing for as long as they can remember, but says they were missing confidence to expand into beadwork.
“I was like, ‘Am I Native enough for this?’” they said. “I constantly had to think about what other people are thinking of me.”
Benally is a multiracial Alaska Native and Native American Two Spirit Woman, and comes from seven different tribes. Menabash means Beaver Woman in Blackfeet, which was their Native name given by their grandmother and late father and is reflected in their business name, Menabash Media. They create “mindful Indigenous-made beadwork.”
They were born and raised on the Lower Tanana Dene’ Lands in Fairbanks, Alaska, and currently reside on Dena’ina Ełnena in Anchorage. Menabash recently moved from Homer, where they felt a disconnect from their culture and community.
“I’m a Pisces, so I have a lot of emotions and feelings,” they said. “The best way for me to describe it is through art … I have so [many] emotions that the English language I don’t feel like covers them enough. It’s a better way of influencing my art through things that I feel, so it’s easier for me to translate it through a tangible object with my aura into it — rather than having to communicate or try to display the certain emotions I am — since they are so intricate and weaved together kind of like a web.”
Menabash is grateful to their family for passing along the gift of artistry. Both of their grandmothers went to Native boarding schools, and say that being able to live life the way that they want to and create art is “more than a blessing.”
“I feel like it’s like, ‘Wow, this is a gift that’s given to me and I want to make sure that gift is shared with everyone I come in contact with,’” Menabash said.
Menabash has pieces for sale on their website, as well as through consignment at the Alaska Native Heritage Center’s Ch’k’iqadi Gallery.
Sam Davenport is a writer residing in Anchorage. She's a leo and a plant-person, and loves spending quality time with her dog, Aspen. She is a Real Housewives fan and has been called a Bravo historian.
