Ockway Bay Wampum - Hartman Deetz

How to purchase: https://ockwaybaywampum.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Ockway/

Bio: Ockway Bay Wampum specializes in contemporary wampum jewelry handcrafted and designed by native artist Hartman Deetz of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.  Their wampum is made using traditional and locally sourced materials. Wampum are beads and jewelry cut from Quahog clam shells. Wampum was woven into belts using pure purple and white beads to create an illustration of the bonds forged between people. The shells signified wealth and leadership in the tradition of the Wampanoag. Deetz's work reflects this strong historical background in his selections of design and material with some selective contemporary additions.

“When I was about 8 or 9 years old it is where my Grandfather Russell “Fast Turtle” Peters first took me out to dig clams, taught me how to dig into the soft sand and drag my foot through until I felt a hard lump, when I found it it was time to get my hands into the shallow water and dig through the sand. We turned up Quahogs, Steamer clams and some mussels, took them back home and ate like kings. This was a part of my summers, a part of my cultural heritage, gathering clams along the same banks as my ancestors had for thousands of years.Now decades later another part of my cultural heritage has come from the hard shell Quahog clam, the art of Wampum.” -- Hartman Deetz