Niio Perkins: An Artist Expanding Her Horizons

Niio Perkins has big things going on. In an adrenaline filled interview on March 1, 2016, Perkins was working on several projects at once, taking multitasking to a new level. She was surrounded by different pieces of work in various stages of development. From her finished raised beaded pouch, a handmade hat waiting for the finishing touches, to her completed piece called "Emma", projects which reflect her busy schedule and her hyperactive creativity. She was working on, at that moment, a pair of earrings that would coordinate with the model's outfit of leggings, beaded yoke and beaded leather pouch.

At the time of this interview, a local crew from Akwesasne was preparing to leave for Philadelphia for a photo of Babes Thompson wearing Niio Perkin's designs. This photo shoot will be featured in the magazine, Native Max. Native Max is a bi-monthly publication featuring fashion, style, art, lifestyle and entertainment. Native Max magazine is a print and digital magazine that features style (men/women), health & fitness, art, culture & education, current events, news & views, pop culture and entertainment, of both Indian Country and First Nations. Native Max is native-owned and all staff writers, contributors and photographers of the Native Max Magazine team are all Native American and First Nations members of Canada.

Coming up in the near horizon is the March 6, 2016 artist reception at the Castellani Art Museum in Niagara Falls. More than 200 historic and contemporary pieces of beaded artwork will be on display in Gerry Biron's "Made of Thunder, Made of Glass II" which explores the intricate details and intimate meanings of Haudenosaunee, Wabanaki, and Chippewa beadwork. The show opened on Saturday, February 6 and runs until June 26, 2016.

Perkins had just finished her first class of "Beading for Healing" which is sponsored by the Seven Dancers Coalition and Three Sisters Program. The Beading for Healing will run over a course of a year, and through its meditative act of beading and talking it encourages the sharing of stories that need to be released. Many of the women who attended the class said they weren't aware the class was for sharing stories of abuse, but those women who didn't know shared the most.

Alternating between her beadwork and picking up her unfinished hat, Perkins muses about her past interviews, "Many people the usual questions, how long have I been beading, and where do I get my inspiration from and what inspires me? Beads don't give me a hard time. I don't even know. I don't know, it just happens. And they will ask, how do you bead so fast, (laughing), the beads just jump on my needle for me. It could be in the dark and I would know how many beads are on there. I don't have to look; I know what I am picking up. I can look at an area and know how many beads will fit there."

"I'm taking classes at the Richard Robinson Academy of Fashion in Ottawa. I'm in the Hat & Accessories class and a sewing class. I want to go to the next level, I want broaden my clientele and I want to achieve my extra goals."