Julie Dick-Tex

San Joaquin Valley Native American Visual/Craft/Material Arts

The beaded collar is adornment worn by Western Mono women. The collar is made from contemporary glass beads. It consists of a wide choker neckband, with a net-like or lacy draped cape. The drape of the collar extends fully over and around the shoulders covering the upper torso front and back. The patterns not only differ by bead choices, but also by region. A collar for a woman from a northern Mono band may have large chevron or diamond patterns, while a woman from the southern bands would have a collar with alternating color lines.

Master artist Julie Dick-Tex first learned to bead from her mother and watched the elders of her community doing this work, especially her aunt Annie. She first learned by working on a loom which was constructed from a tree branch and using beads from her mother’s collection. Dick-Tex is concerned about bringing more vibrancy to this practice. She shares that there are older photos of collars worn proudly by many women from their community, however, the younger generation has not engaged in this practice of wearing beaded collars, much less making them. Like many Native American tribes, the Western Mono adopted the use of glass and seed beads early on. The beaded collar, as with other beadwork, is an older adopted traditional art that is overshadowed by our basketry. The collar is a part of the traditional ceremonial dress attire and it’s important to Dick-Tex to perpetuate the art form before it is forgotten.

In 2016, master artist Julie Dick-Tex participated in ACTA’s Apprenticeship Program teaching her daughter Mandy Marine, a master artist herself (Apprenticeship Program 2012), the technical and cultural significance of the Western Mono beaded collars.