putting on beads & feathers

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gathering 2772 (antler version) contemporary Native American abstract expressionist painting with tribal bicycle inner tube rubber fringe and deer antler adornment by matriarchal First Nations Plains Cree Anishnawbe artist Bebonkwe Brown (grey, light brown black and white color)

whatever came or was taken contemporary Native American abstract expressionist painting with beadwork, leather fringe and birch seed adornment by matriarchal First Nations Plains Cree Anishnawbe artist Bebonkwe Brown (black, light brown, bronze color)

mînowin (recovery) contemporary Indigenous Native American abstract expressionist acrylic painting on plywood with tribal geometry floral brocade fabric circle and fringed beadwork adornments by matriarchal First Nations Plains Cree Anishnawbe artist Bebonkwe Brown (black and green colors)

untitled indigo with fur & prayer sticks contemporary Native American abstract expressionist painting by matriarchal First Nations Plains Cree Anishnawbe artist Bebonkwe Brown (indigo, white, wood and grey color)

This video features trade the memory of this night,
and some of the materials and creative process involved in making it,
as well as related artworks from this and other series.

This series continues my practice of adorning contemporary artworks with First Nations cultural elements begun (circa 2001) in earlier sculpture and scar (painting) series, as well as in much of my multimedia installation work. All of these past works combine (personal, pan-tribal, and Nation-specific) Indigenous iconography, styles, materials and/or genres with/in/on Western art platforms.

Here I'm continuing this adornment on painting surfaces. I incorporate traditional materials and patterns (beadwork, prayer sticks, fur, fabric, hide, ribbons, fringe and painted geometries) into contemporary Western (painting) genres, in a similar fashion as I have in my sculptures.

Other 'non-Native' 3 dimensional things still make their way in, too, being incorporated into the tribal, as always. Recycled inner tube rubber is a favorite (I began using this material in the performative rubber braids in 2002), money is another (first used in my money horses circa 2012). The use of gold that runs throughout my practice also extends into this series.

The series name comes from a saying used in Native communities where I'm from. When getting dressed up in traditional or recognizably Amerindian garb, people say we're "putting on beads & feathers". Its usually said with some degree of humor. Part of the point being that people are now used to navigating the duality of being 'Native' in both Western/street clothes and traditional Native regalia (with each feeling different) but also that non-Native people tend to see us as being more 'Native' in our beads & feathers. These paintings are somewhere between the two..

Due to repeated unsanctioned appropriation of signature elements of my work, in the interest of protecting work in vulnerable stages of development, I now keep my newest pieces on a private page until they, and/or other closely related works, have been seen in public venues and/or by my peers and/or arts professionals in a context where there is a public record of the production and timeline of signature elements and artworks in my practice.

Feel free to contact me for more info about this.

Interested curators, collectors or other arts professionals may also contact me to request access to private work webpage/s at winter@winter-brown.com.

Hiy hiy,
Bebonkwe ᐱᐳᐣ