
Bead Talk
Indigenous Knowledge and Aesthetics from the Flatlands
- 240 pages
- English
- PDF
- Available on iOS & Android
Bead Talk
Indigenous Knowledge and Aesthetics from the Flatlands
About this book
Sewing new understandings
Indigenous beadwork has taken the art world by storm, but it is still sometimes misunderstood as static, anthropological artifact. Today's prairie artists defy this categorization, demonstrating how beads tell stories and reclaim cultural identity. Whether artists seek out and share techniques through YouTube videos or in-person gatherings, beading fosters traditional methods of teaching and learning and enables intergenerational transmissions of pattern and skill.
In Bead Talk, editors Carmen Robertson, Judy Anderson, and Katherine Boyer gather conversations, interviews, essays, and full-colour reproductions of beadwork from expert and emerging artists, academics, and curators to illustrate the importance of beading in contemporary Indigenous arts. Taken together, the book poses and responds to philosophical questions about beading on the prairies: How do the practices and processes of beading embody reciprocity, respect, and storytelling? How is beading related to Indigenous ways of knowing? How does beading help individuals reconnect with the land? Why do we bead?
Showcasing beaded tumplines, text, masks, regalia, and more, Bead Talk emphasizes that there is no one way to engage with this art. The contributors to this collection invite us all into the beading circle as they reshape how beads are understood and stitch together generations of artists.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Contents
- Foreword
- Who We Are
- Introduction
- Part I. Conversations
- Part II. Essays
- Acknowledgements
- Spreading the Bead Love Far and Wide . . .
- Selected Bibliography