Cornhusk Bag (front and back)
It was said that, “Stella Penney (b.1899-1955) would go out and look at the colors and hues of the sunset and look for color schemes in the sky, mountains” (Northwest Interpretive Association, Sapatq’ayn. p.24). As was common with this style of bag, they had a different design on each side which gave the owner some flexibility when dressing for important social occasions. This bag is plain twined with Indian hemp, warp and hemp/cotton wefts and false embroidered with dyed and undyed cornhusk.
Hemp (Apocynum cannabinum), cornhusk (Zea mays), cotton. H 25, W 22 cm
Nez Perce National Historical Park, NEPE 1955