Wenaha Gallery shows bead and leather work of Tamara Reily

DAYTON-Reily draws strongly upon her heritage as a Pawnee, an indigenous group of Native America that lived in the area around what is now Oklahoma. Each piece of work represents intense research into the meaning and symbolism of the image, not only for the Pawnee people but for numerous indigenous peoples of what is now called the United States. Reily has been beading for more than 40 years, and she describes the process as one requiring patience, a good eye, perseverance, and time. She notes that in the places where she sells her work -- art festivals in Alaska, Montana, Washington, and Oregon and at traditional powwows through the Pacific Northwest, she is often the only person selling beadwork. She feels that it is a dying art, and she is committed to doing what she can on her part to keep it alive.

Reily creates traditional items such as pipe bags, medicine bags, turtle rattles, and beaded buckhorns. She uses Crow beads, seed beads, Delica beads, hornpipe, traditional brain-tanned leather, and deer and caribou antlers.

The gallery is located at 219 E. Main Street, Dayton. Their hours are Monday-Thursday from 9-5 and Fridays 9-4.