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Horse Medicine Bag

Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty Native American

Not on view

Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty, considered by many to be the matriarch of contemporary traditional beadwork, created this bag. An ancient rock drawing near her childhood home on the Fort Peck Reservation in Montana inspired the elongated hourglass designs. For the artist, the motif reflects both the earthly and spiritual worlds. Bags like this one usually contained medicinal plants to treat horses. Draped around the animal’s neck, they also provided protection from injury and illness.

Horse Medicine Bag, Joyce Growing Thunder Fogarty (Native American, Assiniboine-Sioux, born 1950), Commercial and native-tanned leather, otter skin, rawhide, wool and cotton cloth, ermine skin, glass and brass beads, silk ribbon, Assiniboine-Sioux

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