Why I Bead
My name is Meg, and I am the artist behind the artistic brand Nelie G. Mae. My connection with my maternal lineage is the heart of my beadwork, and I am a proud citizen of Red Lake Nation. I share my middle name (Elaine) with my mother and grandmother, and the name “Nelie G. Mae” is an anagram of my first and middle names. Working with needle and thread has been a powerful healing practice of cultural reclamation for me, and I am so deeply grateful to have the ability to bead. My grandma gave me my first pair of porcupine quill earrings and a matching necklace when I was little, and she was a professional seamstress.
While my Ojibwe heritage is what grounds my beadwork, my artistic lens expands into the many layers of who I am and where I come from - I also have mixed European ancestry from Germany, Russia, and land throughout the U.K. and Ireland. I grew up living abroad throughout my childhood, and continued to do so throughout my 20’s - my family’s name means “far from home” in German. Being mixed, I value acknowledging the layers of privilege, pain, and healing surrounding my intersectional life experiences. My art practice is an abstract way of visualizing hope within personal, familial, and communal hardships. Creative expression has always been a powerful connection place for my identity and emotional processing, and while I always loved beads as a kid, it wasn’t until 2015 that I began working with seed beads, and I haven’t been able to stop since!
Being in Mni Sota Makoche is a place of home and family stories, and I have been back here since 2018. While I am primarily self taught in my techniques (with the help of YouTube aunties), my family members on both sides of my family have experience in needlepoint, sewing, crocheting, embroidery, quilting, and knitting, and I am always grateful for opportunities to bead/weave/etc in community!
Beadwork is a practice that teaches me how to pay attention within each moment, and to always remember the way my life is woven together with my relatives. I am often inspired by color, fluidity, flowers, joy, shapes, balance, contrast, movement, water, space, light, fire, and the hope I feel in the creation process. Most pieces are one-of-a-kind! While I mostly make earrings and necklaces, I have started beading with other 3D mediums, and am excited to see how this creative practice evolves with time. Miigwech (thank you) for being here!
♥︎ Meg Elaine Veitenheimer (she/they)
photo taken by my sister, Jane Veitenheimer