Community Voices

Mary Thompson was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and spent the first ten years of her childhood in that state. Since then she has lived primarily in California, with a short stint in Las Vegas. Mary currently resides in Virginia City, NV, in a log cabin that she and her husband built. She is married and has two daughters and four grandsons. This is her first book.

Mary tried her hand at several different hobbies before she walked into an Indian bead store in 1972 and experienced "a feeling of coming home." She bought a little roller loom, some beads, and went to work. It has been a love affair ever since and beadwork has opened many doors into new worlds for her. Mary started selling her work in 1985 and attracted the attention of Grandpa Semu Huaute, who eventually adopted her ceremonially as a Chumash and gave her his name to use. Diagnosed and treated for breast cancer in 1989, Mary considers herself a cancer survivor, rather than a victim. During her treatment and recovery, beadwork kept her going and lifted her spirits when needed.

Mary began teaching bead craft in 1990 and became head teacher and class coordinator for a program in California. In 1991 she developed the mini-frame loom and then, kits using the mini-frame loom. Her beadwork has won many prizes in the category of professional crafts and her loomwork sculptures have also won in the Fine Arts and Sculpture categories. She says that each finished piece is a song and that she teaches and writes to keep the craft alive and to introduce people of all age groups to the fun of loom beading.