Akwesasne Artist Featured In Virtual Exhibit

An opening reception for Tales From Bead Night, a virtual exhibit experience that showcases the work of sixteen Indigenous artists from different parts of North America, will take place on February 22 at 6:30 p.m. Tales From Bead Night underscores the connecting threads that bind these diverse artists and the distinctive practices that they each employ through its organization around four distinct themes: care, balance, voice, and home. The show features a variety of mediums, such as painting, drawing, sewing, weaving, working with porcupine quills, building with birch bark, working with wood, carving, graphic arts, writing, and, of course, beadwork.

At the virtual opening, works by well-known artists will be shown for the first time. These include a sweet grass basket with a lid made of quilled birch bark by the well-known artist Burlington Tooshkenig, a traditional Salish beaded dance bag by the award-winning artist Salisha Old Bull, and a necklace set made by Joel Hernandez with turquoise and glass cut beads. The program includes a tour of the virtual space, a look at each artist’s biography and profile, which serve as a virtual catalog for the show, and the chance to talk with each craftsperson. Also, curators K.N. McCleary and Leah Shrestinian and web designer Anna Shrestinian will be there to answer questions about how they worked on the exhibition over the course of several months. The curators talked to each artist, wrote artist profiles and labels, and worked with the web designer to create a virtual space.

All contributing artists are members of the weekly online beading club “Rock Your Beads,” founded in March 2020 and run by Carrie Moran McCleary/Plain Soul [Little Shell Chippewa]. For the past three years, more than 100 beaders have participated in the weekly Zoom group, which hosts 15 to 20 craftsmen on a weekly basis.

“We are grateful to include artisans from across Turtle Island from Canada to Mexico,” Moran McCleary said. “Artists on Bead Night live in both urban areas and on reservations. We have artists in every time zone across North America. When we start at 6:30 p.m. my time, it is 5:30 pm for some folks- but 10 p.m. for our Newfoundlanders in Canada.”

Holly Pyke from Akwesasne is one of the 16 featured artists along with: Adele Areseneau, Dulcie BearDon’tWalk, Luella Brien, Monica Gilles-BringsYellow, Awanagiizhik Bruce, Amy Deer, Joel Hernandez, Heron Hill Designs, Jordan Hrenyk, Crystal Lepscier, Carrie Moran McCleary, Erin McCleary, Salisha Old Bull, and Burlington Tooshkenig.

A $1,000 grant from the Montana Arts Council covered the exhibit’s expenses.

“The artists and art that have come together for Stories From Bead Night shows us that there’s great potential for creating community and exhibiting art virtually,” said Brian Moody MAC Program Officer, “ and we’re proud to support it.”

Curators McCleary and Shrestinian previously curated Place, Nations, Generations, Beings: 200 years of Indigenous North American Art at the Yale University Art Gallery.

Check out the virtual exhibit at rockyourbeads.com