La Guilde presents Beading Now!, a contemporary beading exhibition, from May 16 to July 21, 2019
May 16 to July 21, 2019
Montreal, Tuesday, May 7, 2019 – La Guilde is proud to present Beading Now!, a contemporary beadwork exhibition, which brings together the works of 11 artists who were selected for the way they developed their own artistic technique around beadworking.
From May 16 to July 21, La Guilde invites you to discover nearly 30 artworks. The works of Judy Anderson, Catherine Blackburn, Teresa Burrows, Hannah Claus, Ruth Cuthand, Dayna Danger, Sarah Maloney, Audie Murray, Mike Patten, Sylvain Rivard and Nico Williams shown during Beading now! serve as an excellent overview of beadworking.
The goal of this exhibition is to create a place where Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists can exchange thoughts and ideas. In order to encourage intergenerational discourse, objects from La Guilde’s own collection will be an important part of this exhibition. The presented artworks will create new narratives.
With the excitement surrounding the techniques of craft, just like the explosion of ceramics in the visual arts of the past few years, this beadwork exhibition helps to question the “traditional” and illustrates the modern aspect of this ancestral practice. The technique of beadworking offers artists rich opportunities in terms of exploration and creation; this exhibition will however allow visitors to learn about more than just beadworking, they will discover sculptures, photographs, installations, performances and serigraphies.
The exhibition will open on Thursday, May 16, from 6 to 8 PM. This event will also mark the launch of the catalog which contains explanations on the artworks of the artists in their mother tongue. The artists and the exhibition curator will be available for interviews.
"There is something wrong when we think, in a museum context, that ‘’traditional’’ automatically means preservation. Beading techniques, carried across generations, as showcased in this exhibition, remind us that they are still very much alive: they’ve always been at the center of community’s daily life. As for the new generation of Indigenous artists, beadwork is a way to stay connected to their heritage and pay tribute to their own culture. Finally, Beading Now! offers a new outlook on traditional techniques, transcending cultures and generations. The exhibited works prove the sustainability of this practice in the face of challenging times." - Karine Gaucher, curator