Blackfeet/Piikani artist and Inspired Natives Collaborator John Pepion created this tote with markings that represent the butterfly. Butterflies have unique meanings and spiritual connections to nature across Indigenous cultures. For the Blackfeet, the butterfly is the bringer of good dreams. You will often see butterflies on painted tipis and in the beadwork of Blackfeet people.

John drew inspiration from the rawhide parfleche designs of the Plains Indians. Traditional parfleche are beautifully embellished rawhide containers, decorated by painting, incising, or both. This unique tote bag is a modern tribute to the parfleche rawhide cases and cylinders that the Plains Indians have used for centuries to carry their personal belongings, perfect for the everyday traveler.

Made and printed in Seattle
Main compartment opens up 5" wide
19"W x 13"H x 7"5

Thank you for supporting Inspired Natives™, not "Native-inspired."

Cultural Context:

A parfleche box made of rawhide and painted with blue, yellow, red and green

A parfleche is a container made of rawhide, historically created by Plains, Plateau, and Great Basin women artists. Today, parfleches are made by both men and women, and can be everyday items as well as ceremonial. Parfleche are often highly decorated with geometric designs. Traditional parfleche artists used natural pigments such as charcoal, algae, and ochre.

This example is a parfleche box John made. It is crafted from buffalo rawhide, and John used traditional natural earth pigment to paint the “butterfly” design.