Introduction

Brilliantly Beaded celebrates the rich beadworking traditions of Native peoples of the Northeast through the objects they created for their own use and to sell to others. Early European explorers describe indigenous clothing, which was made from hides and furs and decorated with painted motifs, porcupine quill, moosehair embroidery and shell beads. Among the trade items Europeans brought with them to North America were glass seed beads, needles, thread, ribbons and cloth. These materials rapidly replaced earlier decorative traditions that relied on the use of bone awls, sinew and painted designs. Native Peoples incorporated not only these new materials, but also new design motifs and decorative treatments from European sources and from other Native Peoples. Brilliantly Beaded explores the evolution of Northeastern beadwork from the seventeenth century to the present-day.