“Don’t ever feel like your work is unimportant. No one else can be you.”
– Carolyn Pallett

The intricacies of Carolyn Pallett’s beadwork has led to her earning an unprecedented three Best of Show awards at the Cherokee Homecoming Art Show. Her work reflects a widespread revival in Cherokee textile arts, including feather capes, tear dresses and ribbon skirts.

Pallett specializes in bandolier bags. Producing a single, full-size bandolier bag by hand can take Pallett up to six months to complete. The beads traditionally illustrate stories that begin on the right-hand side of the bag and move in a counter-clockwise direction. Her 2023 Best of Show bandolier bag, “Connected,” is a representation of a universal truth: all beings on Earth are connected.

Pallett sought to create beadwork art after retiring from her second career as a pharmacist, and she found her mentor in Cherokee National Treasure Martha Berry. She finds great inspiration in childhood memories of sewing with family, collecting beads and a treadle machine she received as a birthday gift.