One’s hand starts to cramp just imagining the hours dedicated to the intricate beadwork decorating the 200-plus pieces in Birds and Beasts in Beads: 150 Years of Iroquois Beadwork. The Longyear Museum of Anthropology exhibition, which runs until Oct. 30, includes box purses with beaded loops dripping off the bottom, embellished pincushions, and colorful three-dimensional birds.
The majority of the collection is on loan from Dolores Elliott, a museum consultant and retired archaeologist from Johnson City, N.Y., whose “knowledge of Iroquois beadwork is unsurpassed,” according to Longyear senior curator Carol Ann Lorenz.
Many of the objects date from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, but there are also new pieces made by local Iroquois in this decade.
The “beasts” are represented in imagery of animals from the farm, the forest, pets, and exotic species including a zebra, an elephant, and even a unicorn. There is a case devoted to Mohawk-style birds and another case displaying Tuscarora-style feathered friends — “so you can see the differences from one end of Iroquois country to the other,” Lorenz explained.
Attracting international bead workers, collectors, curators, and bead specialists, the conference will run until Sunday. The keynote speaker, on Saturday, will be Ruth B. Phillips, Canada research chair and professor of art history at Carleton University in Ottawa. Phillips’s career has focused on the study of historical and contemporary Native North American art, on which she has published several books and done curatorial work.
Lorenz’s Native Art of North America students will attend parts of the conference, and she will dedicate a section of the class to Iroquois art, as well as bead history and trade.
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