Museum Anthropology

R E V I E W E S S AY S

Continuity and Creativity in Iroquois BeadworkAcross Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life. Exhibit at theMcCord Museum, Montreal: June 18, 1999, to January 9,2000; Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University, NewYork: July 2 to November 19, 2000; Canadian Museum ofCivilization, Hull: June 7 to November 4, 2001; NationalMuseum of the American Indian, New York: December 9,2001, to May 19, 2002; Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto:June 21 to October 13, 2002; and Mashuntucket PequotMuseum and Research Center, CT: November 16, 2002, toFebruary 16, 2003.

MORGAN PERKINSState University of New York, Potsdam

ABSTRACT This review essay of Across Borders: Beadwork inIroquois Life focuses on the display of beadwork as a culturalpractice that has evolved significantly throughout its history whileremaining central to Iroquois identity. The exhibition draws onhistorical documentation, objects, and imagery that depict thevaried uses of beadwork as ritual objects, sources of income,markers of identity, and as works of art. The content and nar-rative for the display was developed through a broad collabo-ration between curators, scholars, artists, and members of twoIroquois communities. The changing and continued importanceof beadwork is reflected in the adaptation of materials and stylesfor different forms of production and use. Across Borders placesIroquois beadwork in a broad context while concentrating onspecific forms and meanings that are attached to beadwork,whether created in community gatherings or by individual artists.[Keywords: Iroquois, Museum(s), art, material culture, NativeAmerican]

Dipping the needle into a gleaming bowl of tiny beads,an Iroquois woman threads glass to form a stream of lightand stitches it on to velvet. Children play nearby, theTV mumbles, doors open and close. A translucent birdtakes shape beneath her fingers. With this fluid gestureshe reaffirms her connection to a fundamental part ofIroquois life—beadwork.

American Anthropologist, Vol. 106, Issue 3, pp. 595–599, ISSN 0002-7294, online ISSN 1548-1433. C© 2004 by the American Anthropological Association.All rights reserved. Send requests for permission to reprint to: Rights and Permissions, University of California Press, Journals Division, 2000 Center Street,Suite 303, Berkeley, CA 94704-1223.

This imagery is from the introductory label for the exhi-bition, Across Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life. It sets theatmosphere for a display that, on many levels, places Iro-quois beadwork where it belongs: in the active hands ofthose who continue to create its many evolving forms. It is,first and foremost, a living tradition that has played manyroles and been a unifying force over time. Iroquois (or Hau-denosaunee) practitioners have been creating beadwork inmany forms, for different purposes, and with a variety ofmaterials for centuries. While the theme of continuity iscentral to the exhibition, it is shown within the contextof the profound changes that have taken place in Iroquoisculture—changes that are reflected in the beadwork forms.This review concentrates on the many ways that this ex-hibition and its subject are of considerable significance toboth the anthropology of art and museum anthropology.

Across Borders: Beadwork in Iroquois Life begins with his-torical background and explanations of the Iroquois world-view. This is the framework for the practice and meaningof beadwork as a process of recognizing and affirming thatview. For example, the Creation Story tells of the originsof the first Iroquois people and the relation between theSky World and this world (Turtle Island). It is a theme thatreverberates with the symbols depicted in beadwork. Thedisplays of elaborate beadwork embroidered onto clothingduring different periods document the evolution of mate-rials and styles. Pieces of porcupine quills during the 17thcentury, for example, gave way to the extensive use of Eu-ropean glass beads acquired through trade, yet these newmaterials were adapted to the culture. “Glass beads, bril-liant and translucent, were quickly integrated into Iroquoisbelief systems and became a staple in gift exchanges linkedto alliances and treaties” (exhibition label).

One of the most widely known forms of Iroquoisbeadwork is wampum. Beginning with the creation of theIroquois Confederacy (or League of the Iroquois), datingback to the 15th century or earlier by differing accounts(Tehanetorens [Fadden] 1999; Tooker 1978), wampum has

596 American Anthropologist • Vol. 106, No. 3 • September 2004

served a central function in gift exchanges and agreements.1

Wampum is sometimes used in strings, as a symbol of au-thority in the Council of Chiefs; it is also used in the Con-dolence Ceremony for installing new chiefs. When woveninto belts, wampum marks particular events and treaties—among the most recognizable of these is the Hiawatha (Ay-onwatha) belt that symbolizes the creation of the Leagueand is now featured on the Confederacy flag. Originallycreated using the purple and white portions of certainclamshells (the rarer purple beads coming from the shellof the quahog clam), it is now generally made with manu-factured materials. One of the exhibition’s central points isthat, regardless of materials and forms, the symbolic mean-ings remain central to the Iroquois worldview.

MUSEUMS AND THE MARKETING OF “AUTHENTIC”MATERIAL CULTURE

Museums are slowly beginning to recognize and collect thenew and innovative forms of art or material culture thatincorporate more recently acquired materials and that areused for trade or as souvenirs.2 Perhaps even more impor-tantly, the active collection of material being produced bymembers of contemporary communities documents howthose forms and practices exist today. While the historicalrecord and documentation of older pieces of beadwork inthe exhibition highlights the long history of the tradition,the changes in material and practice as fundamentally “au-thentic” is one of the strongest messages. The audience ismade aware from the very beginning that the meaning andcreation of beadwork, in whatever form it may take, hasvery deep roots in both the past, and in the minds of thepresent practitioners.

Another strength is the transparency of its curatorialprocess. The visitor is invited, from the very beginning, toappreciate the methods of exhibition design and to under-stand the essential role that collaboration between com-munities now plays in the creation of many collections andexhibitions. The most effective collaborations allow con-temporary indigenous artists to access museum collectionsfor historical reference, while allowing museums to collectand display material that reflects the evolution of forms.The curators of this exhibition paired the perspectives ofbeadworkers and community members (particularly thosefrom Kahnawake and Tuscarora) with those of museum per-sonnel and scholars (both Native and non-Native).3 The ac-tive social practice in the community settings—whether inthe creation, use, or sale of beadwork—is connected to theextensive curatorial studies of historic pieces in differentcollections, and the use of oral histories, photographs, andwritten archives.

Iroquois beadwork also stands symbolically close to an-other important debate in the museum world—the questionof repatriation. Members of different Iroquois communitieshave been at the center of many debates over the returnof wampum and other objects from different museum col-lections (Fenton 1989; Tooker 1998). By whatever means

these materials may have found their way into museum col-lections, many have been returned—sometimes with con-siderable dispute—and are now displayed in tribal muse-ums or held by tribal authorities for ceremonies alongsidenew objects that continue to be made for these purposes.The theme of borders plays a significant role on anotherlevel, since the United States and Canada vary significantlyin their approaches to the repatriation of Native Ameri-can/First Nations material. While each Canadian museumdeals with repatriation requests differently, those in theUnited States are required by the Native American GravesProtection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) to follow fed-eral guidelines for repatriation. This has significant ramifi-cations for Iroquois people as a whole, since their remainingtribal lands are on separate reservations in the vicinity oftheir traditional territory and spread across two countries,in what is now New York State and the provinces of Ontarioand Quebec.4

An extensive portion of the exhibition is dedicated tothe complex history of Iroquois beadwork being marketedas souvenirs. As exemplified in the presentation on the sell-ing of beadwork to tourists on the edge of Niagara Falls bywomen from Tuscarora, the souvenir has become a conve-nient and potent way for tourists to symbolize their connec-tion (however cursory) to a place or a culture. The collectionof objects made for commercial sale has become the sub-ject of considerable research (Graburn 1976; Phillips andSteiner 1999) and raised questions regarding the produc-tion of material for the market as a process of both culturaladaptation and conservation. On one level, the demandsof the market and tourists’ desire to create an “authen-tic Indian experience” by acquiring objects (a collectionpractice that few museums shared) have had a definite in-fluence on the forms and practice of beadwork.5 Yet thefact that the practice continues also marks a form of sur-vival that now is exemplified in the widespread market-ing of Iroquois beadwork to both Native and non-Nativecustomers. Venues are as wide-ranging as powwows, mu-seum gift shops, art galleries, through the Internet, and bycommission.

Near the end of the exhibition there is an installationthat highlights examples of a vast range of beadwork frommuseums and private collections (some of which appearin Figure 1). The variety is surprising, even for those whomay be aware of its history and diversity. Examples in-clude: Christmas ornaments, picture frames, moccasins, alighter case, a scissors holder, pincushions, a change purse,running shoes, a child’s outfit, and a Cabbage Patch doll.The evening gown with the Sky Dome motif (a symbol ofthe Creation Story) and a jean jacket with a beaded BuffaloBills football team symbol on the back are striking. Thereis more than a little irony associated with the latter icon:The historic stage show of “cowboys and indians” in the“Wild West,” set in New York State and embroidered withIroquois beadwork. One section of the exhibition presentsaspects of Iroquois involvement in performances that of-ten mixed a combination of Iroquois forms with those of

Museum Anthropology 597

FIGURE 1. Display of examples of contemporary beadwork.

Plains and Northwest Coast cultures to create an image of ageneric “Indian” for tourists.6

CONTEMPORARY ART AND CREATIVITY

The form, practice, materials, and general discourse sur-rounding Iroquois beadwork raises several important con-cerns to anthropologists and art historians interested in therole of art in a cross-cultural context (Morphy 1994). Amongthese concerns are the social practice of production, the cre-ative process, the impact of the market, and the relationshipbetween form and function. The quotation that began theexhibition and this review depict the creation of a beadworkas a collective process. That is not to say that the hands ofmore than one person stitched a particular pattern (thoughthis may have often been the case) but, rather, that the so-cial setting is often one in which the creation of beadworkgenerally occurs in the company of others with whom arange of beliefs and cultural activities are shared. In additionto creating a sense of an aesthetic community, activities inthese settings may include everything from conversationsabout specific patterns and use of the indigenous languagesto sharing of daily news and educating the younger gen-eration through storytelling. Today, it is just as likely thatthis work is done on an individual basis. Whether the set-ting is solitary or communal, the important point that israised in the exhibition concerns creativity and the processof innovation through which a person or a community de-velops distinctive styles that remain within the historic tra-ditions. Aesthetic choices, such as the choice of bead colorsand patterns, combine with individual technical skills tocreate evolving and distinctive styles that balance culturaland individual forms. Whether created as a response to themarket or through individual inspiration, this balance is avery important point if an understanding of how membersof different cultures, and particularly those who cross thosecultural boundaries, understand forms and “art” as some-thing much more subtle and complex than the Western artworld has generally acknowledged.

Over time, the functions of beadwork have expandedbeyond traditional uses to include sources of income, mark-ers of identity, and works of “fine art.” The exhibition

closes with pieces by contemporary Iroquois artists whohave adapted the concept of beadwork into new forms. It isworth considering, however, that each of the works on dis-play have been created by contemporary bead workers andmight be considered works of contemporary art. Despite thefact that in Mohawk, for example, there is no single wordused to describe the many objects that might be referred tocollectively as “art,” there are specific words to describe par-ticular objects or practices, such as baskets and beadwork.It is now common, for contemporary practitioners to usethe term art when describing their work in English, and inthose cases it is appropriate to consider them as such. If thenotion of “contemporary” is given its proper, temporal def-inition, those working in a range of conservative or innova-tive styles will be freed from concerns in the internationalart world regarding categories and limited notions of pro-gression in style or concept.7 Contemporary Iroquois artistscross many conceptual borders between styles, cultures, andcommunities, and many of the artists’ work addresses thevery serious social, political, and economic problems—fromboth external and internal conflicts—that continue to faceIroquois communities. The last two artists’ statements fromthe exhibition are worth quoting in their entirety for theirexplanation and insight, as well as for the significant factthat they represent the importance of including the pro-ducers’ voices as testimony to the works.8 The artist JeffreyM. Thomas (Onondaga) sums up many of these concernsin his statement about his contribution to the exhibitionentitled, Cold City Frieze (see Figure 2).

While living in the city of Toronto, I came across an archi-tectural frieze depicting a timeline of Canadian techno-logical history. The first part of the frieze showed Indiansriding on horseback and standing by tipis, images hardlyrelevant to the Iroquois experience. The rest of the friezesimply ignored the continued presence of First Nationspeople in Canadian history.

I designed Cold City Frieze to represent my urban Iroquoisreality. It is modeled after the Hiawatha Wampum Belt,which commemorates the unification of the five Iroquoisnations by the Huron Peacemaker. In the wampum belt,as in my artwork, this event is represented by five joinedicons. With each of these “wampum icons” I associatea “personal icon” referring to people who have influ-enced my life, both family members and historical fig-ures. Expanding on the idea of a longhouse, traditionalsymbol of the Iroquois Confederacy, I have placed the

FIGURE 2. Cold City Frieze, 1999. Artist: Jeffrey M. Thomas(Onondaga). (collection of the artist)

598 American Anthropologist • Vol. 106, No. 3 • September 2004

FIGURE 3. Thinking Caps, 1999. Artist: Shelley Niro (Mohawk).(collection of the artist)

early Mohawk leader Hendrick (Tiyanoga) at the easterndoor and my own self-portrait at the western door, in thecold city landscape of Buffalo.

The author points out that the form of the piece drawson the structure of the Hiawatha belt. The belt’s originalshell bead form has been reproduced in countless ways overthe years as a symbol of Iroquois history and unity. Thephotographic format of this modern piece highlights thefact that beadwork goes far beyond traditional materials andpractices to embody a broader sense of identity.

Iroquois beadwork, in its many physical and concep-tual forms, brings many criteria and categories for art intoquestion. It necessitates recognition that the internationalart world is composed of many overlapping communities,each with their own balance between change and continu-ity. This tradition has evolved and survived—whether on areservation or in an urban setting—across spatial, temporal,and conceptual borders. While anthropologists and art his-torians may ruminate on the relative authenticity of a formand practice that has so obviously changed over time, theIroquois practitioners have quietly, and sometimes not soquietly, gone about the real business of creating, using, andunderstanding beadwork in its many contexts.

The exhibition ends with the installation of a mixedmedia piece by Shelley Niro (Mohawk) called Thinking Caps(see Figure 3), which incorporates beadwork in a way thatleaves the viewer with some of the same questions thatoccupy her thoughts:

Well, here we are, at a monumental moment in time,contemplating the artistic origins of our Iroquois cul-ture. We have the luxury of discussing the source of ma-terials and formation of design. The abstract shapes ofleaves and flowers, the organic growth within the pat-terns taken from the natural environment, concentratedthought condensing the ages: all have led to the evolu-tion of individual expression.

Beginning on the Six Nations Reserve, I have created inbeadwork throughout my entire life. Traditional designswere always evident but I can’t remember how they cameto be so important and essential to my creative vision.

The ancient pieces pull me back to a time when the beadwas a tool for people in our communities, who have used

the materials as if they were paint to create scenarios as ina play, even record the moment as a photograph would.

These ancient and not so ancient documents call out forcompany.

CURATORIAL TEAM

This exhibition was prepared by an international curatorialteam consisting of Kanatakta (Mohawk), Executive Director,Kanien’kehaka Onkwawen:na Raotitiohkwa, Kahnawake;Kate Koperski, Curator of Folk Arts, Castellani Art Museumof Niagara University; Moira McCaffrey, Director, Researchand Exhibitions, McCord Museum; Dr. Trudy Nicks, Cura-tor of Ethnology, Royal Ontario Museum; Dr. Sandra Olsen,Director, Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University; Dr.Ruth Phillips, Director, Museum of Anthropology, Univer-sity of British Columbia; and Dr. Jolene Rickard (Tuscarora),Assistant Professor, University of Buffalo. Moreover, beadworkers from the Iroquois communities of Kahnawake andTuscarora, the two major historic centers of beadwork pro-duction, guided the curatorial process.

NOTES

1. The League of the Iroquois originated with the membership offive tribes—Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca—and was later to include the Tuscarora.

2. Definitions of that always complex notion of “authenticity”based on material or ethnicity is further complicated in the case ofwampum, in which the shell form of the beads were often manu-factured by colonial Europeans (Snow 1994: 91; Tooker 1978:422–423) while nonshell beads are now used in the creation of newobjects and reproductions (Tehanetorens [Fadden] 1999). RichardHill (2002) has addressed some of the problems regarding ethnicityin the marketing of “Indian Art.”

3. The collaboration between tribal cultural centers and urbanmuseums—as well as the range of venues—also highlights the dis-tinctive perspectives and interpretations created in each setting.James Clifford (1991) describes these relationships in length in dis-cussing urban and tribal museums on the Northwest Coast.

4. The Mohawk community of Akwesasne actually straddles thenational borders across the St. Lawrence River and this continuesto be a source of political controversy. The exhibition labels pointout that the 1794 Jay Treaty provided free passage across nationalborders for Native peoples and their personal belongings, but onlyin 1873 was beadwork made for sale allowed to cross without dutyfollowing a petition by the Iroquois.

5. Ruth Phillips, one of the curators, has done an extensive study ofthe role of the souvenir in Native American art from the Northeast(1998).

6. One of the curators, Trudy Nicks, has described at length anexample of this phenomenon from Kahnawake (1999).

7. The Association for the Advancement of Native North AmericanArts and Crafts (AANNAAC) published Iroquois Arts: A Directory of aPeople and Their Works (1983) in recognition of the wide range of artforms, including beadwork, basketry, pottery, painting, and wood-work being practiced by Iroquois artists, whether on reservations oroff. Jolene Rickard (Tuscarora), an artist and one of the exhibitioncurators, has described the imagery of beadwork in one of her ownphotographs as fundamentally connected to traditions that survivewherever Iroquois practitioners create them. “These images are notradically chic. I am just one Tuscarora woman who has identifiedthe ‘center’ as anywhere indigenous people continue to live, know-ing that we have the oldest continuously surviving cultures in theworld” (1992).

8. It is worth noting that while most of the early pieces on displaywere produced by unknown people, the labels for the later pieces

Museum Anthropology 599

are attributed to individuals, or at least communities, wheneverpossible.

REFERENCES CITEDAssociation for the Advancement of Native North American Arts

and Crafts1983 Iroquois Arts: A Directory of a People and Their Works.

Warnerville, NY: Association for the Advancement of NativeNorth American Arts and Crafts.

Clifford, James1991 Four Northwest Coast Museums: Travel Reflections. In Ex-

hibiting Cultures: The Poetics and Politics of Museum Displays.Ivan Karp and Steven Levine, eds. Pp. 212–254. Washington,DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Fenton, William1989 Return of the Eleven Wampum Belts to the Six Nations

Iroquois Confederacy on Grand River, Canada. Ethnohistory36:392–410.

Graburn, Nelson1976 Introduction. In Ethnic and Tourist Arts: Cultural Expres-

sions of the Fourth World. Nelson Graburn, ed. Pp. 1–32. Berke-ley: University of California Press.

Hill, Richard W.2002 Blood Work: Debating Authenticity of Indian Art. Native

Americas 19(1–2):56–61.Morphy, Howard

1994 The Anthropology of Art. In Companion Encyclopedia ofAnthropology. Tim Ingold, ed. Pp. 648–685. London: Rout-ledge.

Nicks, Trudy1999 Indian Villages and Entertainments: Setting the Stage for

Tourist Souvenir Sales. In Unpacking Culture: Art and Com-modity on Colonial and Postcolonial Worlds. Ruth Phillips andChristopher Steiner, eds. Pp. 301–315. Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press.

Phillips, Ruth1998 Trading Identities: The Souvenir in Native North Ameri-

can Art from the Northeast, 1700–1900. Seattle: University ofWashington Press.

Phillips, Ruth, and Christopher Steiner, eds.1999 Unpacking Culture: Art and Commodity on Colonial

and Postcolonial Worlds. Berkeley: University of CaliforniaPress.

Rickard, Jolene1992 CEW ETE HAW I TIH: The Bird That Carries Language Back

to Another. In Partial Recall. Lucy Lippard, ed. Pp. 105–111.New York: New Press.

Snow, Dean1994 The Iroquois. Oxford: Blackwell.

Tehanetorens (Ray Fadden)1999 Wampum Belts of the Iroquois. Summertown, TN: Book

Publishing Co.Tooker, Elizabeth

1978 The League of the Iroquois: Its History, Politics andRitual. Handbook of North American Indians 15:418–441.

1998 A Note on the Return of Eleven Wampum Belts to the SixNations Iroquois Confederacy on Grand River, Canada. Ethno-history 45(2):219–236.