Ska-ba-quay Tesson (ca. 1846 – 1929) also known as A Ski Ba Qua and Mrs. Joseph Tesson) was a

Meskwaki The Meskwaki (sometimes spelled Mesquaki), also known by the European exonyms Fox Indians or the Fox, are a Native American people. They have been closely linked to the Sauk people of the same language family. In the Meskwaki language, th ...

artist who is known for her textile art.

Biography

Tesson was born around 1846 and was part of the

group of Native Americans. When items were purchased from her, she was living in

Tama, Iowa Tama is a city in Tama County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,130 at the time of the 2020 census. Tama is situated two miles south of Toledo, the county seat. The two towns are close enough to have nearly grown together over the year ...

. Tesson acted as a cultural informant for anthropologists studying her people.

Work

Tesson's work, a yarn bag (c. 1900), in the collection of the

National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...

in New York was attributed specifically to her, rather than to her tribal affiliation in 2010. Her textile work consisted of

twine Twine is a strong thread, light string or cord composed of two or more thinner strands twisted, and then twisted together ( plied). The strands are plied in the opposite direction to that of their twist, which adds torsional strength to the co ...

d storage bags that had a

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads ma ...

-like appearance. Her work was based on traditional methods of

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal ...

using

nettle {{redirect, Nettle Nettle refers to plants with stinging hairs, particularly those of the genus '' Urtica''. It can also refer to plants which resemble ''Urtica'' species in appearance but do not have stinging hairs. Plants called "nettle" includ ...

fiber and buffalo wool, but also incorporated new designs. Tesson also made bags using buckskin and porcupine quills.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tesson, Ska-ba-quay 1840s births 1929 deaths Year of birth uncertain 19th-century American women artists 20th-century women textile artists 20th-century textile artists People from Tama, Iowa Native American textile artists 19th-century women textile artists 19th-century textile artists 20th-century American women artists Sac and Fox people 20th-century Native Americans 20th-century Native American women 19th-century Native American women American textile artists Textile artists from Iowa