Floral Journey: Native North American Beadwork

Art and spirituality converge with trade and commerce in Floral Journey: Native North American Beadwork, an exhibition currently on view at the Autry National Center of the American West. Through 250 unique objects and related personal stories, the exhibition presents moccasins, bags, dresses, hats, jackets, and other exquisite beaded and quilled items, selected from fifteen cultural institutions and multiple private collections, which together explore how beaded floral designs became a significant artistic motif as well as a means of economic and cultural survival for Native North American peoples.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Lakota boots  -  Late 19th century

Ojibwe vest  -  1885

Cree gauntlets  -  Canada, 1900

Images courtesy of the Autry National Center of the American West