Details

Storyteller: Terri
Tribe: Rosebud Sioux Tribe
Created: 2018
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Transcript: In June of 1974, my mother taught me how to make God’s Eyes. I was 28 years old.

Gods Eyes are a Native craft that are made in certain tribes and other indigenous cultures across the ocean.

In 1976, I started making God’s Eyes again and it became a family affair.

My Dad would cut all my sticks out for me.

He would make the skeletons of the designs like a tee pee or war bonnet.

And with the yarn, I would make the designs he wanted.

All the Gods Eyes that I made for my Mom were hanging all over her wall.

One day, some people from Montana or Wyoming had a trading post and were looking for Native artwork in South Dakota.

They heard about my Gods Eyes and came to look at them at my folks.

They liked them so much that they bought them right then and there.

When I make Gods Eyes, I make sure to make them when I am in a good place because when a Gods Eye is hanging in your home, it represents peace and harmony,

And it tells people they are welcome when they walk into your home.

When people admire your work or anything in your household in the Lakota culture, we give it to them.

Now when I make God’s Eyes, I get sticks that are different lengths.  

I have to cut the sticks and paint them, so the yarn doesn’t slide.

I make sure on the two sticks in the middle that I paint the four directions.

I have been truly blessed with people that like my work.

Phidamayaye do