Beadwork Adorns the World
Beadwork Adorns the World
April 22, 2018 - February 3, 2019
Extraordinary how a small glass bead from the island of Murano (Venice, Italy) or the mountains of Bohemia (Czech Republic) can travel around the world, entering into the cultural life of people far distant.
Glass beads are the ultimate migrants. Where they start out is seldom where they end up. No matter where they originate, the locale that uses them makes them into something specific to their own world view.
This exhibition is about what happens to these beads when they arrive at their final destination, whether it be the African continent (Botswana, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa), to Borneo, to Burma, to India, Native North America to Latin America (Mexico, Bolivia to Ecuador). However, this exhibit is not actually about beads, rather it is about the working beads resulting in Beadwork, and what a collective of beads in a garment or an object reveals about the intentions of its makers or users.
ndn girlz / rez girlz, 2009 Teri Greeves (b. 1970, Kiowa nation) High-heeled canvas sneakers, glass beads 10 x 9 x 3.5 in. (25.4 x 22.9 x 8.9 cm.) New Mexico Arts, Art in Public Places Permanent Collection Photograph by Dan Barsotti
Violin case, 1891 Brulé Lakota Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota, USA Glass beads, commercial wood case, native-tanned hide, metal trim 32 x 10 x 4.5 in. (81.3 x 25.4 x 11.4 cm.) Stars and Stripes Foundation, San Francisco, California
Man's belt, 1881-1921 Romania Leather, cotton, glass beads, metal 34 13/16 x 3 15/16 in. (88.5 x 10 cm.) Museum of International Folk Art, Gift of the Hendershott Family, A.2009.64.2 Photograph by Blair Clark
China poblana blouse, c. 1935 Puebla city and state, México Cotton, glass beads, 24 ½ x 21 1/16 in. (62.25 x 53.5 cm.) Gift of Florence Dibell Bartlett, Museum of International Folk Art, A.1955.1.135 Photograph by Addison Doty
Economic Conundrum cradle, 2010 Maker: Thomas Red Owl Haukaas. Brain-tanned elk hide, glass beads, thread, hawk bells, Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, Kansas