Dale & Claire Gilbert of the San Carlos Apache Tribe

His earliest memories of beading trace back to his grandmother. She would spread a blanket on the ground and tell stories in Apache to her grandchildren while she beaded. Dale remembers the stories, although he spoke little Apache as a child, and even less now as a grown man. But it was her presence he remembers. “She sold little miniature items to the Peridot Trading Post, where she would trade her work for groceries. It was her way of supporting the family. Later on, it was his mother who beaded buckskin dresses and moccasins. “Even Dad picked up beading to help her during the busy times, “says Dale.

Today, Dale Gilbert remembers few words of Apache, but the lessons learned of tradition and beading stuck. Turns out, he did not need to speak the language to absorb his grandmothers’ and mothers’ lessons:
 
The sharing of culture.
The value of craft.
The security of family.
The strength in tradition.

When he turned 9 or 10, his mother suggested he could make some of his own money by beading simple coin purses to sell at the Trading post.

”She showed me how to do rosettes. Just a circle. You make two sides, sew them together and you have a coin purse. I remember the store was run by Joyce Montgomery and her husband, and they had this huge selection of 501 Levis. So my first thought was “Hey, I can buy myself a pair of those 501’s!” So I started making coin purses. I think I sold my first one for $15 - $20 and did that for quite awhile. I bought myself toys; candy….and a lot of 501’s!”

Around the same time, his mother started getting busy (with beading dresses) and she offered Dale and his sister $20 every two weeks to help her. Setting up 2 looms, she would start several rows of a design and then would ask both kids to complete 2-3 yards. “That was a lot of money back then and my sister and I said, OK! And that’s what we did to make money as kids. We’d come home after school and do an hour or two of loom work.”

“Mostly it was working with the whirlwind design – a design which uses simple colors. The Blue and the White. These signify Yin and Yang. Masculinity and Femininity. It shows that you will have harmony within yourself. Later they worked with more colors, including yellow and red. The four colors; red, white, blue and yellow which were some of the first colors the Apache had to work with and still represent traditional elements.

Today, Dale and his wife Claire are in demand for their beadwork and design vision. Especially for Sunrise Dresses. The one-of-a-kind dress a young girl wears as she transitions into a woman in a spiritual ceremony which takes place over a 3-day period.

As Claire explains, “The dress will tell her family where she came from. Who she is inside. Sometimes the dress has to carry the girl. Because maybe physically or spiritually she is not strong enough.”

The Gilberts take tradition into account when they make a dress. And as part of that tradition, Claire always cuts the dresses. “I never use a pattern. I can just look at the hide and if Dale is going to do the dress, maybe he has shown me a sketch of what he has in mind, but then I can just look at the hide and cut. “

Either Gilbert may then take the dress and proceed to work on the design involving dyeing parts of the hide, bead work, attaching cones and silver spots and applying fringe. Unlike newer dressmakers who may stitch different colored hides together for a two tone dress, Dale explains that he and Claire like to work with the entire hide. Like his ancestors before him who tanned their own hides, they work with the finished product which is a supple leather turned white in the tanning process. They then, hand dye the various parts of the dress which will be yellow or tan. Dale goes on to explain, “If the dress if it is to be all yellow, the dyeing process will take place before the beading. If it is a two tone dress (or more), the dyeing process takes place after the beading.”

Both Claire and Dale will tell you that they have a distinctive style which reflects their upbringing. Claire’s, own experience in traveling with her father’s ministry as a young girl introduced her to many tribal influences including Plains Indians and East Coast tribes which play into her work. Dale was influenced by the designs and the traditions passed on to him through his grandmother and mother. But he is also drawn to patterns he sees in other cultures and what he experiences in his own life. (In a vest he beaded after 9/11, he shows the black sky, the skyscrapers…and the gathering of people coming together and talking.)

When starting a Sunrise Dress, both Gilberts will meet with the girl and her family, listening to what they would like for the dress. “We are often asked to use certain colors in a dress and we may do that. We will start out with that. But as we work on a dress it takes on a life of its own. In the end, they say, they follow their own voices, which many times come to them in a dream. And it guides them in a design which is true for that girl.
      
Dale added that some have requested a hummingbird or butterfly,”…and while those images might be really beautiful, we were taught that these were a strict NO in our tradition. For these represent aspects you don’t want your daughter to have as a woman.”

The making of the dress is a spiritual journey and is imbued with the intent of the dress maker. The energy and intentions of the dress maker is passed on to the girl. Which is why Claire explains, “If I am sick, I don’t want to touch the dress.” She goes on to say,
 “When I cut the dress I want a good future for her.” The Gilberts say they can tell if the girl is going to have an easy or hard time.” We can tell through the process of making the dress,” says Claire. “If it is a struggle to finish, the dance will be difficult. And if the dress just comes together. We know then that the dance will be good.”

The Gilberts have sold their work, from beaded buckskin dresses to medicine pouches and Nike shoes for upwards of $3000 or more. But when it comes to making Sunrise Dresses for their own people their costs are in line with the local market. Although on the upper end of dress makers, the Gilberts bring a lot to the table when it comes to making dresses.

Pulling a hank of brilliant green beads from his satchel and holding them up to the light, Dale explains. “Right now, I have at least 3 to 4 shades of green, so even though a family may bring us 5 colors of beads to use, in the end Claire and I may use 15 or more colors on the dress.”

Claire goes on to explain that taking on a dress project means less time with her family, and, an all-consuming process which involves the girl, her family and others in completing a dress which will help carry her through this all-important ceremony.
Claire adds, “When I deliver a dress, I feel a person is missing. I can feel the absence.”
The dresses which are done by the Gilberts bring together their understanding of Apache tradition and artistry which reflects nearly 30+ years of beading and dress making.

The couple takes on about 5-6 dresses a year.
And their work speaks for itself.