Beading Workshop

Innovate your creative practice and learn how to bead with Nishina Shapwaykeesic-Loft and Relative Arts! 

Admission is free to the public and materials are provided.

Nishina Shapwaykeesic-Loft is Kanien’kehá:ka from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. She is a 2S queer, multi-disciplinary artist in a wide spectrum of mediums. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours from York University in Theatre Production and Design. 

Nishina works in the theatre industry with a specialization in costuming. Her recent credits for Costume Design are BentBoy (Young People's Theatre) and Niizh (Native Earth Performing Arts). She is a mural artist working with StART as a junior curator and an indigenous advisor. She is the Associate Programmer for the Toronto Queer Film Festival and has worked in programming for  imagineNATIVE Media + Arts Festival. She is a beadwork artist exploring different materials and incorporating modern interpretations (@nshtsh). She is the Resident Artist for Relative Arts located in the East Village, NYC. She continues to grow within her field and explore new opportunities.

LIANA SHEWEY (Mvskoke) is Co-founder and Director of Programming at Relative Arts. Shewey is a committed educator and community organizer who has led teachi-ins and speak-outs to create awareness around missing and murdered Indigenous relatives (MMIR), the damaging effects of fossil fuels, and Indigenous liberation. She has also worked in music and event production for more than 15 years and brings those skills and relationships to Relative Arts to host events featuring artists of all forms, and to develop progressive educational programming. Notable engagements include The New-York Historical Society, William Paterson University, RISD, The American Indian Community House, The Museum of the City of New York and more.

KORINA EMMERICH (Puyallup) founded EMME Studio in 2015 and co-founded Relative Arts, NYC in 2023. Her colorful work celebrates her patrilineal Indigenous heritage from The Puyallup tribe while aligning art and design with education. Her work has been featured on Project Runway, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Moma PS1, The Denver Art Museum, NYU, Cornell, RISD Museum, The Museum of the City of New York, Vogue, Elle, Instyle, New York Magazine, and more notable publications. She has presented her collections in Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week, Indigenous Fashion and Arts, Santa Fe Indian Market's Couture Runway Show, and New York Fashion Week.