A crow with glinting black feathers. A larger-than-life grasshopper. A family wedding dress. A delicate clutch.

All made out of beads.

“I have seen for a long time the artwork that the different artists we sell to are making, but other people don’t see that,” said Heather Kahn, co-owner of Caravan Beads in Portland. “It’s pretty unrecognized because nobody knows it even exists. If they’re thinking of beaded art, they are thinking of jewelry, not a tapestry or a sculpture or even clothing and costume.”

Kahn is hoping to change that with the Museum of Beadwork, which opened this month next to her family’s business in Portland.

People around the world have been making and using beads for thousands of years, and such work is exhibited today in history and art museums. But the staff at the Museum of Beadwork and artists in the field said few institutions focus exclusively on this art form, and they hope this new venue simultaneously elevates it and encourages people to try it for the first time.

Melissa Shippee is an artist based in Ashford, Connecticut, who contributed a series of intricately beaded masks to the museum. She attended the opening gala last weekend and said she was blown away by the pieces on display. The Museum of Beadwork highlights “the best of what you can do,” she said.

“It’s one of the oldest forms of human expression,” said Shippee, 40. “I think it’s going to showcase this particular art form in a way that gives it legs, gives it credibility, that is actually really interesting. It showcases the ultimate things you can do with beads.”

BEADWORK AS ART

Caravan Beads started on the porch of Kahn’s childhood home in Portland. Her mother loved making beaded jewelry but could not find any local shops to buy supplies. So she and a friend who shared her passion launched their own out of a couple of suitcases in 1991.

“It became super popular,” said Kahn. “People started showing up looking for beads even on the days we weren’t open.”

The business expanded into bigger spaces and grew to include a mail-order department. Today, Caravan Beads operates retail and wholesale operations out of a large building on Forest Avenue. The store sells a wide range of supplies but specializes in glass seed beads from renowned Japanese maker Miyuki. Customers range from hobbyists who make their jewelry to professional artists to fashion designers who will order thousands of beads for a single dress to medical labs who need clear glass beads for experiments.

Kahn came up with the idea for the museum when she and her husband visited Chihuly Garden and Glass in Seattle, which showcases the work of glass artist Dale Chihuly. She saw a celebration of a unique art form and thought, “This is what we can do.” She sat down in the gift shop and bought the domain name museumofbeadwork.org on her phone. Caravan Beads had an adjacent storefront that had become a sort of storage space. Kahn decided it would now house the museum, and she knew exactly who should run it.

At the time, Kristina Skillin worked part-time at Caravan Beads. She had a bachelor’s degree from Savannah College of Art and Design in metals and jewelry, as well as a minor in costume design. She started her own business making jewelry, clothing and costumes. But she wanted to go deeper into the history of ornamentation and got a second bachelor’s in classical languages from the University of Southern Maine so she could read more original documents. She also earned a minor in archeology and then went to the University of Aberdeen in Scotland for a master’s degree in that field.

She came back to Maine and started looking for work that suited her interests and her training, but she was struggling to find the right thing. She knew Kahn from working at Renaissance fairs over the years, and she started working at her store. But they both felt that she was underemployed there. When Kahn approached Skillin to be the director and head curator of the museum, she jumped at the opportunity.

Skillin said she was excited to combat the gender stereotypes that have long been attached to beadwork, and she thought the Museum of Beadwork could fill a unique gap for artists who at times have trouble getting their work into fine arts institutions and galleries.

“The tricky thing with beadwork is that it’s generally dominated by women, so it’s viewed as a craft and not art,” she said. “One of our goals is to try and elevate the idea of beadwork as an art form because it truly is an art form.”

FROM PAST TO PRESENT

Kahn and Skillin started working on the project and launched a Kickstarter in March 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic quickly set their plans behind schedule. Kahn turned her focus to her family’s business, and Skillin kept working behind the scenes on the plans for the museum. Despite delays, Skillin said she was motivated by the opportunity to celebrate artists in a niche field.

“What can we do to highlight these people and give them the opportunities that should be there but are not there?” said Skillin. “How can we provide spotlights? That’s what I’d really like to do.”

The Museum of Beadwork is a nonprofit separate from the adjacent bead store, although the business has provided the space for free. The project has received grants but is mostly funded through private donations. The Kickstarter raised more than $16,000; its goal was $15,000. Skillin estimated that the museum owns 60 percent of the work on display right now, while the remaining 40 percent is on loan from artists.

Upon entering, visitors are prompted to consider a question: What is a bead?

“Natural found objects have been used as beads for millennia,” one placard reads. “Many seashells and bones develop with holes that run through them. Does this automatically make them beads? Or is it simply the act of being strung that makes something a bead?”

The museum displays some historic objects, such as a collar made with glass seed beads during the Victorian era and a beaded clutch from the 1920s, and Skillin said she hopes they can expand their collection in the future to recognize the long tradition of beading in human history, including by Indigenous artists. For now, their startup budget dictates that most of the work in this space is contemporary. The masks by Shippee hang on the wall. One case includes mythological animal figures by Illinois artist Betsy Youngquist, while another features a cuff with 3D flowers and other pieces by California artist Cliff Swain-Salomon.

In the center of the single room is an eye-catching design by Jan Huling. “The Gown: Affinity” is a 3D-printed copy of the wedding gown worn by the artist’s mother, two aunts, and herself. Huling spent a year covering that shape with ornamentation: vintage Czech glass seed beads, Swarovski crystals, tokens, photographs, chains, and vintage cabochons. The result is a bodiless gown with mesmerizing pattern of circles in shades of blue, red, white, and gold.

“I’d had the idea of creating a beaded gown for a while, but since I imagined it would be a huge project, I kept putting it off until my mother died in 2016 and I realized that the wedding gown in my attic would be perfect to use, not only as a tribute to my mother but also as a meditation on marriage, family, life, and death,” the artist wrote in the accompanying text.

One full wall of the museum is dedicated to a project Kahn and Skillin shepherded during the pandemic to help people feel connected to each other and also the future museum. Artist Nancy Josephson launched the Beaded Square Project and then asked the museum to take it over. The parameters were simple: Participants should make a 6-inch-by-6-inch square and send it to the Museum of Beadwork to eventually be part of a group display.

They ultimately received 541 squares from 18 countries, and the submissions vary widely in technique, ability, and subject matter. Some speak literally to the experiences of the pandemic (a mask, a roll of toilet paper, soapy hands under a faucet), while others have political messages (a figure of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the phrase “Black Lives Matter,” a “Vote” sticker). There are tributes to music, pets, the ocean, and nature. There are squares with 3D butterflies and flowers and even a snake. There are complex and beautiful patterns.

“It’s truly huge and hopeful and somber and really amazing,” said Skillin.

The squares also speak to the future plans at the museum, which will sponsor similar projects and contests. In 2020, the Museum of Beadwork and Caravan Beads hosted a contest with the theme “Wings and Stings,” and the winners are now on display in the exhibit.

‘SO MANY BEAD ARTISTS’

Beadwork artists said they are excited about a museum dedicated exclusively to their medium.

Nick Heller is a woodworker and bead artist who lived in Portland for many years. Now based in Winthrop, he started beading more than a decade ago when he was looking for a way to express his feelings about politics and the state of the country. His portraits have featured prominent figures such as Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. His scenes are on display at the museum, where he said he was particularly impressed by the range and number of beadwork squares from around the world.

“I never realized there were so many bead artists,” said Heller, 64.

Nancy Kleckner lives in Lewiston and is the secretary at the Maine Bead Society, which has 35 members scattered across the state. One is Kelly Hudson, who started beading in 2020 and has her work displayed at the museum as part of the Emerging Beader Program, which features artists who are new to the field. Hudson’s first public exhibition includes multiple pairs of earrings and a detailed collar.

Kleckner, 63, said the museum can be an inspiration for people who are new to beading or very experienced.

“I hope people in addition to beaders go and appreciate it,” she added. “Although some of the stuff looks like it probably took years – the dress, for instance – it’s accessible. You can get into this too, and you can make beautiful things without a lot of time and learning.”

Skillin said the Emerging Beader Program reflects the central concept of the museum.

“Don’t be intimidated,” she said. “Be inspired.”

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