Pillow form whimsey in the form of a heart 1901

This heart-shaped pillow, made with beads and fabric by an anonymous Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) artist around 1901, has a quiet, folksy charm. I can imagine the artist carefully selecting each bead, placing it just so. The work has an intimate scale, which makes me think about the artist's hands; there's something so satisfying about making something small, something you can hold and turn around in your hands. It must have taken so long to make, such focus and care. I can almost feel the soft velvet and the tiny beads. I imagine them adding the words “From Niagara Falls, 1901”. Perhaps it was a souvenir, a token of a place and time. Like a painter choosing colours, the maker chose these words to remember a special moment. The simple composition, the choice of materials – it all comes together to tell a story. It makes me think about how we all leave traces of ourselves in the things we make.