Post by blackcrowheart on Nov 30, 2005 11:02:00 GMT -5
Beadwork offers stunning display of artistry
Posted: November 29, 2005
by: Staff Reports / Indian Country Today
Photos courtesy Oneida Indian Nation of New York -- Liz Babcock, Oneida Turtle Clan elder, showed some of the newly aquired beadwork to children from the Oneida Nation's Early Learning Center. Nation members were offered a glimpse of the 203 beadwork items, including a 1903 beaded bag depicting the good and evil twins who are integral in the Haudensaunee creation story (second photo from top). The nation now owns one of the largest collections of Haudenosaunee beadwork in existence.
ONEIDA NATION HOMELANDS, N.Y. - Safely stored inside ordinary plastic bins in the Oneida Nation's archives are extraordinary items of Haudenosaunee beadwork, remarkable for their intricacy and colorful design. With last summer's purchase of a second superlative collection of more than 130 pieces of beadwork - originally designed as souvenir items sold during the Victorian era - the nation now owns one of the largest collections of Haudenosaunee beadwork in existence.
Nation elders were offered a first glimpse of the beadwork recently at the Ray Elm Children's and Elders Center. At an informal gathering, elders were given the opportunity to get an up-close look at the painstaking work performed by their predecessors.
A vibrantly colored beaded bag depicting the good and evil twins from the creation story caught Lenora Call's eyes. ''Isn't that beautiful,'' she enthused. Call, who is in the process of making a beaded belt and necklace, said she can appreciate the time and effort put forth to make such an elaborately designed item.
The collection
The newly purchased collection of 203 items is in pristine condition. Included are 73 bags; 59 assorted beaded works, including pincushions, needle cases and watch pockets; hats; and a variety of baskets, cornhusk pieces and wooden objects, including a late-1800s carved and painted cradleboard.
''The second collection is strongly focused on very early, rare and artistically excellent items,'' said Oneida Nation historian Tony Wonderley, who facilitated the purchase. ''Owning this collection places the nation's holdings in its own world-class league. These are items the Smithsonian [Institution] or British Museum would be proud to display.''
The first collection purchased totaled 328 pieces. Of this assemblage, the majority was beaded works from the 1800s and early 1900s and brimmed with moccasins, purses, pincushions, hats and whimsies - fanciful souvenir items.
Both collections are indicative of Haudenosaunee artistry, using an ancient technique of built-up decorative surfaces in their work. The beadwork represented in the collections is typical of those designed to sell to tourists. Some articles are emblazoned with the year and where they were sold, places that included Niagara Falls, Saratoga and Oneida Lake.
''This type of beadwork was survival art,'' said Wonderley. ''It was started at a time when the Haudenosaunee were impoverished and struggling to continue under conditions of devastating cultural loss. Each was the product of long work and each was imbued with sacred values.
''Oneidas regarded beadworking as a gift from the Creator to teach patience and humility. Such a gift should be used and it should be shared. Often beadwork was carried on by women of different generations who talked, as they worked, of their community and its history. In such a setting, these beaded creations took on deep personal meanings. Stories, lovingly interwoven into every beaded flower, petal and stalk, told of what it meant to be Oneida and Haudenosaunee.''
The acquisition
Frank Bergevin, the antiques dealer from whom the Oneida Nation purchased the collection, acquired many of the beaded items from an English collector, Mark Sykes, who explained how the beaded work ended up in Great Britain.
During the Victorian era, Niagara Falls was considered a romantic American destination for the English and one of the venues where the Haudenosaunee sold their beadwork, said Sykes. Also during this era, several exhibitions were held in England and American Indian beadwork was included, as Haudenosaunee beadwork was very popular.
Beaded items from the Haudenosaunee also reached Great Britain's shores via American soldiers in World War II, who offered beaded pieces to their girlfriends. Later, in the 1950s and '60s, beaded work remained popular in England and was still affordable and available. But by the 1970s and '80s, fewer pieces were accessible and prices began to escalate, said Sykes.
''A nation should own and control its cultural history to tell its story, rather than having outsiders own and use this material to tell their version,'' said Bergevin. ''By owning their past, a people are better prepared to shape their future. The Nation accepts the role of caretaker, and in effect culture bearer, for themselves, and by extension the Haudenosaunee as a whole, by preserving a material part of their culture, which reflects their self-image and how they will be perceived by others.
''The emphasis in the second collection has been placed on rarity and earlier material, artistic excellence, dating and attribution and with attention to Oneida material, and, as with the first collection, physical condition. Combined, the two collections provide a comprehensive inventory of 19th-century Haudenosaunee material culture from the 1820s on.''
Posted: November 29, 2005
by: Staff Reports / Indian Country Today
Photos courtesy Oneida Indian Nation of New York -- Liz Babcock, Oneida Turtle Clan elder, showed some of the newly aquired beadwork to children from the Oneida Nation's Early Learning Center. Nation members were offered a glimpse of the 203 beadwork items, including a 1903 beaded bag depicting the good and evil twins who are integral in the Haudensaunee creation story (second photo from top). The nation now owns one of the largest collections of Haudenosaunee beadwork in existence.
ONEIDA NATION HOMELANDS, N.Y. - Safely stored inside ordinary plastic bins in the Oneida Nation's archives are extraordinary items of Haudenosaunee beadwork, remarkable for their intricacy and colorful design. With last summer's purchase of a second superlative collection of more than 130 pieces of beadwork - originally designed as souvenir items sold during the Victorian era - the nation now owns one of the largest collections of Haudenosaunee beadwork in existence.
Nation elders were offered a first glimpse of the beadwork recently at the Ray Elm Children's and Elders Center. At an informal gathering, elders were given the opportunity to get an up-close look at the painstaking work performed by their predecessors.
A vibrantly colored beaded bag depicting the good and evil twins from the creation story caught Lenora Call's eyes. ''Isn't that beautiful,'' she enthused. Call, who is in the process of making a beaded belt and necklace, said she can appreciate the time and effort put forth to make such an elaborately designed item.
The collection
The newly purchased collection of 203 items is in pristine condition. Included are 73 bags; 59 assorted beaded works, including pincushions, needle cases and watch pockets; hats; and a variety of baskets, cornhusk pieces and wooden objects, including a late-1800s carved and painted cradleboard.
''The second collection is strongly focused on very early, rare and artistically excellent items,'' said Oneida Nation historian Tony Wonderley, who facilitated the purchase. ''Owning this collection places the nation's holdings in its own world-class league. These are items the Smithsonian [Institution] or British Museum would be proud to display.''
The first collection purchased totaled 328 pieces. Of this assemblage, the majority was beaded works from the 1800s and early 1900s and brimmed with moccasins, purses, pincushions, hats and whimsies - fanciful souvenir items.
Both collections are indicative of Haudenosaunee artistry, using an ancient technique of built-up decorative surfaces in their work. The beadwork represented in the collections is typical of those designed to sell to tourists. Some articles are emblazoned with the year and where they were sold, places that included Niagara Falls, Saratoga and Oneida Lake.
''This type of beadwork was survival art,'' said Wonderley. ''It was started at a time when the Haudenosaunee were impoverished and struggling to continue under conditions of devastating cultural loss. Each was the product of long work and each was imbued with sacred values.
''Oneidas regarded beadworking as a gift from the Creator to teach patience and humility. Such a gift should be used and it should be shared. Often beadwork was carried on by women of different generations who talked, as they worked, of their community and its history. In such a setting, these beaded creations took on deep personal meanings. Stories, lovingly interwoven into every beaded flower, petal and stalk, told of what it meant to be Oneida and Haudenosaunee.''
The acquisition
Frank Bergevin, the antiques dealer from whom the Oneida Nation purchased the collection, acquired many of the beaded items from an English collector, Mark Sykes, who explained how the beaded work ended up in Great Britain.
During the Victorian era, Niagara Falls was considered a romantic American destination for the English and one of the venues where the Haudenosaunee sold their beadwork, said Sykes. Also during this era, several exhibitions were held in England and American Indian beadwork was included, as Haudenosaunee beadwork was very popular.
Beaded items from the Haudenosaunee also reached Great Britain's shores via American soldiers in World War II, who offered beaded pieces to their girlfriends. Later, in the 1950s and '60s, beaded work remained popular in England and was still affordable and available. But by the 1970s and '80s, fewer pieces were accessible and prices began to escalate, said Sykes.
''A nation should own and control its cultural history to tell its story, rather than having outsiders own and use this material to tell their version,'' said Bergevin. ''By owning their past, a people are better prepared to shape their future. The Nation accepts the role of caretaker, and in effect culture bearer, for themselves, and by extension the Haudenosaunee as a whole, by preserving a material part of their culture, which reflects their self-image and how they will be perceived by others.
''The emphasis in the second collection has been placed on rarity and earlier material, artistic excellence, dating and attribution and with attention to Oneida material, and, as with the first collection, physical condition. Combined, the two collections provide a comprehensive inventory of 19th-century Haudenosaunee material culture from the 1820s on.''