October 18, 2014 Program

This month we are hosting Alice Scherer, the co-author of the book that started the beading revolution in 1992 The New Beadwork.

The topic of her presentation is:

From Basket Making to Beadworking:
Woven Native Beadwork in the 19th-century Greater Pacific Northwest

This program showcases the woven bead work of indigenous peoples of the greater Pacific Northwest from northern California through Oregon and Washington and into British Columbia and Alaska during the 19^th and early 20^th centuries and describes its evolution from the very early basketry-derived techniques to when Western-introduced beading looms and frames and easier, more flexible bead embroidery work became the dominant forms of beadwork expression throughout much of the region.

Woven Indigenous Beadwork  places Northwest indigenous beadwork in the context of beadwork worldwide during the 19^th century and discusses the importation of beads into the region both during the British and American fur trading eras (1808 to c 1860) and the several-decades-long flood of American pioneers which followed relatively soon thereafter (1842 through about 1890). 

Each era had its stylistic effect on the native work of the times, as did the types of beads which flowed in. 

Beadwork from Northeastern Indians came in with the fur trappers and traders. This style of work was later taken over by the  designs and techniques which came with the women pioneers and the ladies magazines of the day.

Further inspiration was provided by printed designs on fabrics and wallpapers, and advertising images in newspapers and magazines at the end of the 19th century.

About Alice Scherer

 

Alice Scherer is the Founder of the Center for the Study of Beadwork, established in 1989 in Portland, Oregon to promote the field of contemporary beadwork.  This organization now serves primarily as a base for her independent research in indigenous beading traditions worldwide.

She is currently the Secretary/Treasurer for the Society of Bead Researchers, an international organization devoted to gathering and disseminating bead and beadwork research through its publication Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers.

She is also co-author of the seminal book The New Beadwork, which established the “beadwork as an art form” movement in 1992. 

She has written numerous articles on beadwork in:

• Threads Magazine
• Ornament
• Fiberarts
• Beadwork Magazine

She has curated or juried several exhibitions of beads and beadwork around the United States, including the 1986-1989 groundbreaking show The Bead Goes On., a two-and-a-half-year traveling exhibition which was the first serious effort to cover the work of contemporary beadworkers, under the aegis of Visual Arts Resources at the University of Oregon in Eugene.