By Will Chavez

Staff Writer

 

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. – The exhibition “Beadwork Storytellers, A Visual Language,” will open Oct. 11 at the Cherokee Heritage Center museum.

 

Running through April 19, 2009, the exhibit promises to be educational and historic. The history of Cherokee and Southeastern tribal beadwork from pre-European contact through today will be showcased, as well as 200-year-old artifacts.

 

Beaded pieces from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland; the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.; the Ohio Historical Society; the Autry National Center of the American West in Los Angeles; the Denver Art Museum and the Oklahoma History Museum are expected to be a part of the six-month exhibition.

 

“There will be pieces that have never been exhibited before, anywhere,” said noted Cherokee beadwork artist Martha Berry, who is helping coordinate the exhibit. “We have had a wonderful response to our requests for the loan of historic artifacts. Originally I had thought that receiving four, two-century-old artifacts would be great, and eight would be wonderful. We will be exhibiting as many as 21. We will be exhibiting artifacts or photographs of historic artifacts that are Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw and Seminole.”

 

A conservator from the University of Aberdeen is also expected to hand deliver eight pieces of Southeastern-style beadwork to the CHC.

 

“This loan is exciting because these beautiful works of art have not been on this side of the Atlantic in two centuries,” Berry said.

 

She added that a one-of-a-kind piece will also be displayed for the first time – a portion of a Cherokee beaded mantle that is a sleeveless cloak or shawl.

 

“We have known for many years from the early writings of Anglo observers that Cherokees wore or carried such beaded mantles, but there has never been any evidence of them. This piece was brought to the attention of the Cherokee Nation a couple of years ago. It is still in the possession of a descendant of the original owner and was carried on the Trail of Tears,” Berry said. “All in all, we will have both real and photographic examples of historic bandolier bags, moccasins, belts, sashes, garters, coats, pants, purses and leggings.”

 

Berry said the exhibit would also have a large section of traditional Southeastern beadwork that was created by 21st century beaders. At the end of the 20th century, there were only about a dozen people in the world who were masters of Southeastern beadwork, Berry said. Of those dozen, about half were descendants of Southeastern tribes, and only two were Cherokee. 

 

“We will have examples of the work of several of those masters. Additionally, we will have the work of many student beaders. They are the future of the revival of this art form and their numbers are growing rapidly,” she said. “In the 1980s, when I began to study the beadwork of my Cherokee ancestors, there were no teachers, no classes, no books, and no how-to instructions. I had to learn from photographs of artifacts and from studying artifacts at the Smithsonian Institution. Now there is a burgeoning revival of traditional beadwork among my own Cherokee people and other Southeastern woodlands tribes, as well.”     

 

In the last decade, the CN and the CHC have been strong supporters of the revival of the traditional beadwork art form among Cherokee people. The greatest obstacle in reviving this art form, Berry said, has been the fact that most Cherokees do not even know what their own great-great-great-great-grandmothers’ beadwork looks like. 

 

“A century of exposure to images of Plains Natives, in their beautiful regalia, in Wild West shows, movies, on television and at powwows, have left many believing all Native people looked and dressed in the same manner,” she said. “Add to that the fact that most of our artifacts are not where most of the Cherokee people live, and you begin to see the real need to expose our people to the beadwork of their own ancestors.” 

 

The revival of Cherokee beadwork has been greatly aided by donations from Cherokee citizen Robin Flint Ballenger, CEO of Flintco Construction Co., who is also co-sponsoring the beadwork exhibition along with Cherokee Nation Enterprises and other patrons of Cherokee arts.

 

In addition to the exhibit, a full-color companion booklet containing photographs of historic artifacts and modern beaded pieces will be sold for $10. Also included in the book are descriptions of Southeastern beadwork and a history of Cherokee and Southeastern beadwork. 

 

An opening reception for the exhibit is set for Nov. 1. Though the exhibit runs until April, the museum is closed during January. For more information, visit www.Cherokeeheritage.org or call (918) 456-6007 or toll-free at 1-888-999-6007.