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 19th and early 20th
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
19th 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.
