Reviving a lost art

Beadwork exhibit features beadwork of Cherokee

By Laura Arwood | The Herald BulletinApr 28, 2019

ANDERSON — The red bandolier belt looks like a scarf connected to a bag covered in intricate beading. On one end of the scarf are pink swirls, with blue and white detail, changing pattern and ending with blue swirls, with pink and navy detail.

The work, “Fair to Partly Tornadic,” symbolizes the Cherokee belief of balance between day and light, good and bad, and peace and unrest.

The piece was one hanging on the walls of Park Place Arts, 515 E. Eighth St., as a part of Carolyn Pallett’s Seventh Generation Southeastern Beadwork exhibit.

The exhibit runs through May 10. It opened on April 5, as a part of the monthly First Friday art crawl.

The beadwork was created as an act of revival; remembering the lost art of Cherokee bead art. Pallett, an Oklahoma native, was born and raised in Oklahoma, where she became intrigued in Native American artwork while visiting the museums, according exhibit information.

"No one in my family, like most Cherokee families, produced this type of work," Pallett said. "... We assumed that Cherokees did not make, never had made beaded items."

Most remnants of Cherokee beadwork were lost when Southeastern Woodlands tribes were forced to the Indian Territory, which is present-day Oklahoma, she said.

"A small purse handed down through my family always seemed a mystery to me, as I never knew the woman who made it for my great-grandfather," Pallett said.

Pallett, who is an Enrolled Citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and now an Anderson resident, began learning the work from fellow Cherokee artist Martha Berry, according to the exhibit.

Pallett's work is handmade. She spent 200 hours making one of the bandolier belts. She creates jewelry, clothing and bags while using the traditional techniques used in the Southeastern Woodlands in the 18th century, according to the exhibit.

"It was basically a lost art," Eliot Reed, Park Place Arts owner and operator, said.

"She's one of a handful of people who can do it. It's without a doubt some of the most intricate and fascinating things I've seen. It's really interesting."

Plaques beside the pieces explain their origins. A pair of moccasins tell the Cherokee legend of the first fire, in which Water Spider carried fire on her back over water.

"This is a fun exhibit," Reed said. "I've always been interested in Native American history, I studied it in college. So it's really great to have it here and be able to learn more about it."

Over the six years Park Place Arts has been open, Reed said, some of his favorite exhibits include a hodgepodge of artists' work surrounding the proposed Mounds reservoir and a local sculptor, Stephanie Cochran, who created articulating insects.

Alongside those, the Seventh Generation Southeastern Woodlands Beadwork is one of his favorites.

"This is definitely up there on the list," he said. "Not because she was a customer, but because Carolyn does something really important. People can come here and really experience the re-emergence of something that was lost, and that's really awesome."

Reed said the local art scene is in its early stages, with an attitude of cooperation rather than competition. He said a strong art scene based on cooperation allows access for Anderson residents to get involved.

"I was shocked when it started, people were coming out of the woodwork," he said. "People who work in their garages, basements, second bedrooms. The stuff they create is incredible."

Follow Laura Arwood on Twitter for live breaking news updates @lauraarwood or call 765-648-4284.

If you go

What: Carolyn Pallett’s Seventh Generation Southeastern Beadwork exhibit

When: Through May 10

Where: Park Place Arts, 515 E. Eighth St., Anderson