HELLO FROM THE GOOD LAND.
I’m Sarah (she/her), the artist and maker behind Good Land Loom.
Created in 2021 during stay-at-home, Good Land Loom is about embracing the slow art of weaving and crafting handmade pieces with great detail and careful intention.
I am a self-taught fiber artist who uses a variety of techniques in my work including weaving, blending and hand spinning fibers, punch needle, and embroidery. My art can be described as cozy and full of texture, and ranges from abstract color-blocked pieces to recreations of scenes from the natural world. I accept commissions and enjoy creating personalized, one-of-a-kind items.
Everything is handmade by me with love and care in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 🧀 Thanks for supporting me and my small business!
Pictured is me with my version of the People’s Flag of Milwaukee, created using a technique called punch needling.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Why Good Land Loom? In short, I named it that to pay homage to my hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Milwaukee means “the good land.”
But there’s more to it than that.
While this is the Good Land, it is important to know whose land I am creating on. Milwaukee, like all of America, sits on stolen Native Land. According to @nativelandnet, the Milwaukee area is on the land of the following Indigenous peoples:
Peoria
Bodéwadmi (Potawatomi)
Myaamia
Očhéthi Šakówiŋ
Omāēqnomenew-ahkew (Menominee)
Hoocąk (Ho-Chunk
Kiikappoi (Kickapoo)
To learn whose land you are on visit Native Land and read more about the origin of the name Milwaukee below.
Partial text from the 2018 Milwaukee Magazine article, “What Does ‘Milwaukee’ Mean, Anyway?” by Matthew Prigge:
“Dr. Margaret Noodin, director of the Electa Quinney Institute for American Indian Education at UW-Milwaukee, and a speaker of Anishinaabemowin, the language of the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potowatami, believes the word [Milwaukee] is of Anishinaabe origin: “Mino-akking,” which translates to “Good Land.”
“There are dialect variations, but all of these people speak a language that would understand ‘mino’ to mean ‘good’ and ‘aki’ to mean ‘land,'” Noodin says...
...Noodin does not dismiss the possibility of other or even multiple “true” origins of the name. “The other theories center on a translation of the word as part of the Meskwaki language,” she says. “The Meskwaki were also known as the Sac and Fox Nation and were present in the area prior to the arrival of the Anishinaabe at which time they moved west and south. Also Algonquian, the languages share many meanings so their term for ‘gathering place’ which is ‘mahn-a-waukee,’ is very similar sounding. It is very likely that this bustling cosmopolitan place had both names in use simultaneously.”