Jack Theis is an Anishinaabe-Michif beadworker and a citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation. While his ancestors were from the Red River of the North, he was born and raised in Dallas and spent his late teens and early 20s in France and Romania. At 23, he moved to Minneapolis where he first learned to bead. Jack continued to learn beadwork after moving to Winnipeg in 2017 where he majored in Native Studies and minored in Native languages. He approaches most projects from an academic perspective, thoroughly researching histories, ideas, and questions which he expresses or responds to with beadwork. Jack hopes to expand his beadwork practice by incorporating a variety of other media and techniques including porcupine quillwork, caribou hair tufting, and silk and moose hair embroidery. Jack sees the beaded medallion in Native fashion as a versatile accessory that can easily be considered a cornerstone of both Native street wear, regalia, and high fashion. Proof of Natives peoples wearing medallions is made evident by the miniature beaded medallions worn by Cree dolls made in the late 18th century, as well as in early watercolors of life in the Red River Settlement, in which Métis men are depicted wearing colorful quilled breast plates. As such, Jack considers the making of medallions to be part of a long-standing culturally significant tradition.

This red rose is surrounded by a starry night sky, which includes size 15/0 charlottes in four shades of blue. The stars are composed mostly of vintage Italian yellow beads and vintage French cut glass beads in silver. The medallion itself was made with at least 18 colors of beads. The fringe is made of czech fire-polished beads and cowrie shells. Antique 19th century Russian Blues form the necklace. Cut by hand in what was then called Bohemia, these brilliant, shimmering glass beads were then traded by Russians to Alaska Natives. During the fur trade, Native peoples across the continent participated increasingly in a global market economy, with North American furs and pelts having been highly sought after by fashionable nobility across Europe and Asia. This medallion, backed by a soft, smoked, brain-tanned buckskin, is both a statement piece and a lesson in world history. —Jack