Beaded Sampler Series
I have been thinking a lot lately about the abstract patterns that surrounded me during my childhood in Northern Ontario. This was intensified by the death of my parents in 2014, which has caused me to reflect more frequently on the past. I also have an obsessive relationship to beading in both my art and my craft practices. My beading craft practice is focused on creating three-dimensional geometric beaded jewelry rather than “traditional” Anishnawbe beadwork which tends to be floral patterned. As the term geometric suggests my work is characterized by abstract geometric shapes and patterns. Perhaps this is why reflection on my childhood has been focused on the abstract patterns I encountered in daily life. The primary source of these patterns were the branded designs of consumer products (for example potato chip bags) and the 1970s and ‘80s clothing that my family wore or that I saw on television. It seemed appropriate to explore that visual world through beading and I have created beaded samplers of patterns sourced from that period primarily through family photographs, product packaging and the occasional television still from that era. I’ve been interested to reflect on how pervasively modernist abstraction permeated the visual world of my childhood and to explore the nature of those patterns through my fascination with beading. It has also made me realize how much pleasure these bright colours and intense patterns brought into a world that was otherwise often fairly bleak.