From the Forest - Native American Porcupine Quill Art - New Exhibit @ Institute For American Indian Studies

Native Americans have a deep artistic sense and a great knowledge of our natural environment.  This aesthetic can be seen in the objects of art, both decorative and useful at the new exhibit, From the Forest at the Institute For American Indian Studies on 38 Curtis Road in Washington Connecticut.  Porcupine quillwork looks amazingly like delicate embroidery.  This type of quillwork was most likely, the first purely decorative art practiced by Native Americans.  It is highly sought after by collectors, each piece representing hundreds of hours of work by the artist.

Porcupine quillwork or embroidery is a distinctive Native American art form.  The quills are folded, twisted, wrapped, plaited and sewn using a wide range of techniques to embellish articles of clothing, bags, knife sheaths, baskets, wooden handles, pipe stems, jewelry and many other items. 

Native Americans in 17th century New England used porcupine quills to decorate their clothing and accessories. They would also decorate containers made from birchbark because it was light, long lasting and flexible. Quillworking flourished from New England to the tribes of the Great Plains until the arrival of Europeans with ready-made glass beads that were incorporated into the work.  Although considered a 'lost art' by many, some artists still practice the tradition from tribes such as the Sioux, Cree, Ojibway, and others carrying on the tradition of quill embroidery.

Porcupine Quills
One of the most enduring myths about the porcupine, a member of the rodent family, that is only native to North America is that they are capable of throwing quills.  The reality is the porcupine uses their quills as a defense mechanism. When in danger, the porcupine lowers its head and lashes out its tail, and if the predator is in striking range, the barbed quills are embedded in their hide or on their face. Once embedded, the quill with its needle-sharp barbules expands and every muscle movement pulls it deeper into the flesh.

The porcupine quill is a modified type of hair, and like hair, it is shed when it is fully grown. An adult porcupine has an average of 30,000 quills on its body that average about three inches in length. The spring and fall porcupine quills are said to be the best because they are not waterlogged and don't break easily.

Once the quills were carefully removed from the porcupine they were sorted by size then made pliable by soaking. Dyed and flattened, woven, wrapped, tufted or stitched the humble porcupine quill became part of a work of art as well as a means of self-expression. 

The Exhibit
This exhibit showcases artifacts on loan to the museum from the Meg Buda Collection consisting of many Native American decorative and useful items that have been embellished with porcupine quill embroidery.  There are examples of flat as well as tufted quill embroidery on a variety of objects from moccasins and baskets to jewelry and containers.  Some of the workmanship on the tufted birchbark baskets is extraordinary because of the variety of natural dyes used on the quills and the delicate floral or geometric patterns on the containers. Examples of tufted quillwork are only made by a few artists and are extraordinary in their detail and craftsmanship.

In addition to this exhibition, the Institute has a large collection of Native American Artifacts, a 16th century reconstructed outdoor Native American Village and a new Escape Room that is opening in late October called Escape from a Wigwam, 1518.The Institute is open Wednesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, 12 noon to 5 p.m. 

About Institute For American Indian Studies 

Located on 15 woodland acres the IAIS has an outdoor Three Sisters and Healing Plants Gardens as well as a replicated 16th c. Algonkian Village.  Inside the museum, authentic artifacts are displayed in permanent, semi-permanent and temporary exhibits from prehistory to the present that allows visitors a walk through time. The Institute for American Indian Studies is located on 38 Curtis Road in Washington Connecticut and can be reached online or by calling 860-868-0518.

The Institute for American Indian Studies preserves and educates through discovery and creativity the diverse traditions, vitality, and knowledge of Native American cultures. Through archaeology, the IAIS is able to build new understandings of the world and history of Native Americans; the focus is on stewardship and preservation.  This is achieved through workshops, special events, and education for students of all ages.

Supercharged Chew - Iqmik

People have used mushrooms as food, medicine and even for decorative and spiritual purposes. One interesting fungus used primarily by Coastal Alaskan people is the Phellinus igniarius.  In addition to using this fungus decoratively, they also use it for smoking and chewing.

About the Willow Bracket  

French mycologist, Lucien Quelet described this mushroom in 1886  as a very tough cork like fungus that is shaped like a hoof and looks as though it had been in a fire. The Phellinus igniarius mushroom brackets out from the bark of a dead log or infested tree and is most often found on a willow, birch or alder tree.  Each fall it sends spores out that land on diseased trees. The top of this mushroom is often a dark cracked crust that has a wood-like consistency.  It is quite hard and looks like it can survive the harshest of elements; removing it from a tree requires a saw. Each year a new layer forms and the flesh becomes harder with age. It can remain on the host tree feeding off of it for years after the tree has died.  

Native American Uses

Native Americans living in coastal Alaska made elaborate boxes to hold the ashes of the fungus that was used for chewing and smoking.  The Yupik and Dena peoples of Alaska's far northwest traded with the Yukon Indians to obtain these mushrooms, which they burnt to ash.  They made boxes of bone, ivory, and wood to store the ashes of this mushroom mixed with cottonwood bark which they would smoke or chew with Balsam Poplar Bark before the introduction of tobacco. The time spent and the beauty of these boxes demonstrate how important iqmik was to a variety of Native American cultures.

When tobacco became available, they mixed the ashes of the fungus with it and chewed or smoked it. It was reported that the addition of tobacco gave this mixture a powerful "kick".  It is now known that the alkaline of the ash quickens the effects of nicotine entering the bloodstream.  It’s no wonder that one Indian name for Phellinus igniarius is “elch’ix”, which translates as “burning taste.” 

Museum collections show that Phellinus igniarius was also used by the Micmac of Nova Scotia, Inuit of Labrador, Blackfoot of the North American Plains, and the Kwakiutl of the Pacific Northwest.

Iqmik is made by mixing shredded tobacco leaves and punk ash. It can also be made by rolling pieces of a tobacco leaf around a portion of the ash, forming a quid. Today, the ash-tobacco mixture is sold in native Alaskan communities under the Yupik name iqmik, or black bull that is also known as punk ash.  More than 50% of the Yupik Eskimo people in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta still use iqmik.

Did you know

Woodpeckers are known to favor this fungus as a good place to excavate a nesting chamber.

Extracts from this plant were found to be strongly anti-oxidant.

An extract of this plant is hispolon that has been found to exert anticancer effects on AML and have anti-tumor activity on lung cancer.

The use of iqmik is a serious problem in modern native Alaskan communities. Tobacco was introduced to Alaska and does not serve a ceremonial, religious or medicinal function in traditional Alaskan Native Culture according to tobacco-free Alaska.

Government programs and surveys highlight findings and implications for program planning for Native Americans in Alaska.

Medicinal Monday - The Mighty Mayapple

Mayapple is a native woodland plant that can be found in most of eastern North America.  Mayapples have many names including American Mandrake, Ducks Foot, Indian Apple, Love Apple, Raccoon Berry and Umbrella Plant.  Eating too much of the fruit of the mayapple was poisonous, but the Native Americans knew what they were doing and used this plant extensively.

About Mayapple Plants

Today the mayapple is often grown as an ornamental plant because of its large beautiful leaves and flowers. This herbaceous perennial belongs to the same family as Japanese barberry, known as heavenly bamboo.  When the Mayapple first emerges it looks like a closed umbrella before it's leaves unfurl.

As a perennial, it spreads by rhizomes that form large colonies.  The most striking thing about this plant is its leaves, that are massive in relation to the overall size of the plant.  The mayapple plant needs partial or full shade to thrive and prefers rich, moist soil.

The "apple" is a fruit that succeeds a short-lived white flower.  The fruit, of this plant, which is about the size of a small lemon, is only edible when it is fully ripe and a soft yellowish color.  The leaves of the plant die back making the fruit easy to spot.  If you eat the fruit while it is still green and not ripe, you will become sick. The flavor of the fruit is said to have a mildly acidic taste. 

Medicinal & Culinary Uses 

The edible fruit (when yellow) of the mayapple was eaten raw, cooked, made into jams, and jellies by Native Americans. Medicinally the entire plant was used by Native Americans in a variety of ways.  

The Cherokee would soak the root of the mayapple plant in whiskey and use it to treat rheumatism; the Meskwaki also used a decoction of this plant to treat rheumatism.  The Delaware used the powdered root as a laxative. The Iroquois would make a cold infusion of the smashed roots that acted like a physic.  They would also use it in a corn ceremony and would make a decoction of leaves from the mayapple along with other plants to soak corn seeds before planting. 

The Penobscot used the crushed roots of the mayapple to remove warts and the Menominee used the stems and foliage as a pesticide by boiling them in water and using this water to repel insects. The Iroquois also used this plant as a veterinary aid and would place seeds and fruit pulp on the shoulder of a horse.  It was also used as a laxative for horses. Some Native Communities used mayflower to treat snakebite, warts, and skin conditions.

Did you Know

Mayapple was said to have been used by witches as poison. 

The unripe fruit is toxic. The ripened yellow fruit is edible in small amounts.

Mayapple was used as an ingredient in Carter's Little Liver Pills.


All parts of the mayapple plant, except the fruit, contain podophyllotoxin which is highly toxic if consumed. 
Podophyllotoxin is an ingredient in prescription drugs used for the treatment of certain cancers, psoriasis, and malaria.


One of the common names of the mayapple plant is American mandrake although they are not related both are poisonous and both have been used for medicinal purposes.  The difference is that European mandrake has roots shaped like miniature human beings and it is a hallucinogen.