My auntie is Susie Ondola. She is an Athabascan artist. She's been working all her life on Athabascan crafts and art. She's been going to school for twenty-five years.

She does beautiful bead designs and jewelry. When my auntie was my age she kept getting in to her mother's beads. Her mother taught my auntie how to bead. I am learning how to bead by watching my auntie.

When my auntie does a bead design first she draws the design on paper. Then she draws it on a piece of moosehide. Then she sews the beads on the moosehide. She starts the design in the middle. She sews the flowers and leaves. Then she fills in the background with beads. She uses hundreds of tiny beads. When the bead work is finished she sews the bead work on the gloves.

My auntie made these earings too. They're made from beads and porcupine quills. These earings are a very special design of Aunt Susie's. The cross in the middle which is made from porcupine quills point to all four corners of the world to show that the Athabascan people are related to other tribes in all directions. The bead design in the circle represents the sun. The circle shows how everything in the world of the Athapbascan is related to the cycle of life. All things are connected and related.