u r my sun & my earth

acrylic, cut glass beads & deer hide on canvas
8 x 8″ 2012

nfs

This is one of my first paintings adorned with beadwork. It continued my practice of adorning painting surfaces with three dimensional elements that are familiar within First Nations culture, begun in 2004 with the scar series. I began incorporating beadwork a year earlier with the large scale linguistic beadwork banner in The Most Beautiful Things (2003). This painting also continues my use of poetry & song titles & lyrics begun with my 1998 live artwork for video 10,000 years & continued in my antler series. In this little painting & the antler series, I also continued my practice of speaking to the viewer in my artwork titles, also begun in the beaded statement of The Most Beautiful Things (Are Now Happening to Us).

If you associate beadwork-adorned paintings with other, perhaps currently more wellknown Native artists, I encourage you to check the artwork creation dates. I’m certain you’ll find this artwork & other beaded works in this series predate this part of their work, as do other elements of my practice, including the ones mentioned above.