Bead Talk - (Paskwāwi Masinahikewina/Prairie Writing) by Carmen L Robertson & Judy Anderson & Katherine Boyer (Paperback)

About the Book

Beading fosters traditional methods of teaching and learning and enables intergenerational transmissions of pattern and skill. These conversations, interviews, essays, and full-colour reproductions of artwork from expert and emerging artists, academics, and curators from the prairies invite us all into the beading circle.

Book Synopsis

Sewing new understandings

Indigenous beadwork has taken the art world by storm, but it is still sometimes misunderstood as static, anthropological artifact. Today's prairie artists defy this categorization, demonstrating how beads tell stories and reclaim cultural identity. Whether artists seek out and share techniques through YouTube videos or in-person gatherings, beading fosters traditional methods of teaching and learning and enables intergenerational transmissions of pattern and skill.

In Bead Talk, editors Carmen Robertson, Judy Anderson, and Katherine Boyer gather conversations, interviews, essays, and full-colour reproductions of beadwork from expert and emerging artists, academics, and curators to illustrate the importance of beading in contemporary Indigenous arts. Taken together, the book poses and responds to philosophical questions about beading on the prairies: How do the practices and processes of beading embody reciprocity, respect, and storytelling? How is beading related to Indigenous ways of knowing? How does beading help individuals reconnect with the land? Why do we bead?

Showcasing beaded tumplines, text, masks, regalia, and more, Bead Talk emphasizes that there is no one way to engage with this art. The contributors to this collection invite us all into the beading circle as they reshape how beads are understood and stitch together generations of artists.

Review Quotes

"A small but power-packed collection of interviews, stories and philosophical explorations [Bead Talk] hits the mark... Bead Talk offers insiders' perspectives on the [beading] process, underscores the importance of relationships, gives insight into the calming zone of bead time and celebrates the excitement of shaping today's beading movement."

"With stunning photography and a mix of conversational oral histories to more traditional academic essays, Bead Talk is an excellent addition to the libraries of Western historians, material culturists, or anyone who simply loves beautiful things. As Franchesca Hebert-Spence says in chapter four, "beading is love," and that love--for beading, for friends, for community, and for home--pours from the pages."