Martha Berry is a Cherokee beadwork artist who creates beaded art inspired by traditional Southeastern Woodlands Native American tribal beadwork. Mrs. Berry creates bandolier bags, moccasins, belts, sashes, small purses and knee bands, in the styles worn by the Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Seminole, prior to 1840. Also, framed sun circles are offered exclusively through the All Things Cherokee gallery

On August 27, 2013, Mrs. Berry was designated a Cherokee National Living Treasure. And, more recently, on May 7, 2023, during the annual Chief's visit to the Cherokee Gadugi group in Fort Worth, Texas, she was recognized as a "Cherokee Nation Honored Elder," in appreciation of her "commitment to the preservation and conservancy of Cherokee customs and heritage."

She was awarded the Tradition Bearer Award, by the Cherokee National Historical Society, at the Seven Star Gala, Tulsa, September 26, 2015.

In March 2018, she was a featured artist on Osiyo TV, Voices of the Cherokee People in a segment called Martha Berry, Leading A Beadwork Revival. Please follow the link to watch.

On July 10, 2020, while social distancing at home during the pandemic, Martha was interviewed for Gilcrease Facebook Live by Danielle Culp of the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma. Please follow the link for the full interview.

More recently, in December 2023, she was featured on "Beyond the Art, a YouTube podcast hosted by Cray Bauxmont-Flynn. Please follow the link to hear Stitching History and Identity: The Art and Soul of Cherokee Beadwork with Martha Berry.,

Demonstrations of beading techniques are now available FREE on her new YouTube Channel: Martha Berry Cherokee Beadwork Artist. If you want to learn how to create Cherokee and Southeastern beadwork, four short videos will introduce you to the materials and the basic techniques you will need to know.

Floral Journey With A Twist, the beaded bandolier bag shown at right, is included in the WINIKO: Life of an Object exhibit at the First Americans Museum, Oklahoma City, OK, which celebrated its grand opening in September, 2021.

The bandolier bag River of Art was showcased as part of Oklahoma City's National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum's "Spiro and the Art of the Mississipian World" exhibition from Feb. 12 to May 9, 2021, then moved with the exhibition to the Birmingham (Alabama) Museum of Art from Oct. 9, 2021 to Feb. 6, 2022. It then traveled to the Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas, Texas, where the Spiro Exhibition finished its run (March 13 through Aug. 7, 2022). A video created for the opening of the Spiro Exhibition in Oklahoma City can be viewed here: here.

As part of the "Chiefs, Clans & Kin" exhibit, When the Highlands Met the Mounds bandolier bag appeared at the Living Arts Center of Tulsa from May 6 through June 19, 2022, then moved to the Choctaw Cultural Center in Durant, Oklahoma, where it was on display from July 23 to Dec. 31, 2022. Plans are in the works for the exhibit to travel to Ireland and perhaps Scotland. More details to come.

That same bandolier bag, When the Highlands Met the Mounds, is part of an amazing art exhibition, To Take Shape and Meaning: Form and Design in Contemporary American Indian Art," at the North Carolina Museum of Art. The exhibition opened March 2 and runs through July 28, 2024.

Finally, Freedom of Movement, a bandolier bag completed in 2011, is now a part of the permanent collection at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma (currently closed for a major renovation), the bandolier bag Post-Pandemic: Finding a New Direction, is in the collection of the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta, and a very special bandolier bag, Gifts of the River, has been acquired by the Dallas Museum of Art.

"I could not be more pleased that my creations are traveling or finding homes in museums, where they can be seen by so many for years to come," Mrs. Berry said. To learn more About the Artist and her amazing journey, please follow the link.

TO PURCHASE BEADWORK, please contact Mrs. Berry by email at mberrybeadwork@yahoo.com.

To order patterns and how-to instructions for making Southeastern Woodlands beadwork, click here and order online. We offer patterns for traditional bandolier bags, sashes, belts, three styles of moccasins and small purses.