Megan A . Smetzer | Capilano University (original) (raw)
Books by Megan A . Smetzer
University of Washington Press, 2021
For over 150 years, Tlingit women artists have beaded colorful, intricately beautiful designs on ... more For over 150 years, Tlingit women artists have beaded colorful, intricately beautiful designs on moccasins, dolls, octopus bags, tunics, and other garments. Painful Beauty suggests that at a time when Indigenous cultural practices were actively being repressed, beading supported cultural continuity, demonstrating Tlingit women’s resilience, strength, and power. Beadwork served many uses, from the ceremonial to the economic, as women created beaded pieces for community use and to sell to tourists. Like other Tlingit art, beadwork reflects rich artistic visions with deep connections to the environment, clan histories, and Tlingit worldviews. Contemporary Tlingit artists Alison Bremner, Chloe French, Shgen Doo Tan George, Lily Hudson Hope, Tanis S’eiltin, and Larry McNeil foreground the significance of historical beading practices in their diverse, boundary-pushing artworks.
Working with museum collection materials, photographs, archives, and interviews with artists and elders, Megan Smetzer reframes this often overlooked artform as a site of historical negotiations and contemporary inspirations. She shows how beading gave Tlingit women the freedom to innovate aesthetically, assert their clan crests and identities, support tribal sovereignty, and pass on cultural knowledge. Painful Beauty is the first dedicated study of Tlingit beadwork and contributes to the expanding literature addressing women’s artistic expressions on the Northwest Coast.
Papers by Megan A . Smetzer
Arts, Mar 28, 2024
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Arts, 2024
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Hearts of our People: Native American Women Artists, 2019
Alderwood, paint, hair, cedar bark, abalone, glass beads, moose hide, bone or plastic 121⁄ 4 x 97... more Alderwood, paint, hair, cedar bark, abalone, glass beads, moose hide, bone or plastic 121⁄ 4 x 97⁄8 x 43⁄8 in.
Women, Aging, and Art : A Crosscultural Anthology, edited by Frima Fox Hofrichter, and Midori Yoshimoto, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2021
Journal of Material Culture, 2013
Cotton cloth was rapidly incorporated into Tlingit cultural practices after its introduction in t... more Cotton cloth was rapidly incorporated into Tlingit cultural practices after its introduction in the late 18th century by European explorers and fur traders in Southeast Alaska. The transformation of cloth, both within ceremonial contexts, and perhaps more significantly beyond them, has been all but overlooked. This article explores the innovative ways Tlingit women used cloth and considers the ways in which it participated in the construction of new social circumstances and also masked longstanding cultural practices as it circulated within and between Tlingit and Euro-American settler communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In particular, the author looks at how calico cloth was utilized in relation to the burgeoning tourist industry in Southeast Alaska and the annual berry feast.
Panorama
For over 150 years, Tlingit women artists have beaded colorful, intricately beautiful designs on ... more For over 150 years, Tlingit women artists have beaded colorful, intricately beautiful designs on moccasins, dolls, octopus bags, tunics, and other garments. Painful Beauty suggests that at a time when Indigenous cultural practices were actively being repressed, beading supported cultural continuity, demonstrating Tlingit women’s resilience, strength, and power. Beadwork served many uses, from the ceremonial to the economic, as women created beaded pieces for community use and to sell to tourists. Like other Tlingit art, beadwork reflects rich artistic visions with deep connections to the environment, clan histories, and Tlingit worldviews. Contemporary Tlingit artists Alison Bremner, Chloe French, Shgen Doo Tan George, Lily Hudson Hope, Tanis S’eiltin, and Larry McNeil foreground the significance of historical beading practices in their diverse, boundary-pushing artworks. Working with museum collection materials, photographs, archives, and interviews with artists and elders, Megan Smetzer reframes this often overlooked artform as a site of historical negotiations and contemporary inspirations. She shows how beading gave Tlingit women the freedom to innovate aesthetically, assert their clan crests and identities, support tribal sovereignty, and pass on cultural knowledge. Painful Beauty is the first dedicated study of Tlingit beadwork and contributes to the expanding literature addressing women’s artistic expressions on the Northwest Coast.
The extensive art historical and anthropological literature addressing indigenous Northwest Coast... more The extensive art historical and anthropological literature addressing indigenous Northwest Coast artistic production has, at its center, a "significant silence." Though produced, consumed and valued, in a wide range of cultural contexts, for more than one hundred years, Tlingit beadwork has never been comprehensively analyzed. I engage with, and begin to fill, this significant lacuna in scholarship through the compilation into a catalogue of nearly eleven hundred beaded objects in widely dispersed museum collections, including regalia and other items made for Tlingit use, and souvenirs; the use of theoretical frameworks not previously applied to the Northwest Coast; the critical examination of historic texts and images; and, most importantly, conversations with Tlingit headers and elders. Euro-American constructions of authenticity, tradition, the hierarchy between fine and applied art, as well as notions of hybridity and commoditization created the circumstances for beadwork's marginalization. Drawing on the work of Ruth Phillips, Nicholas Thomas and James Clifford, I argue that beadwork should be considered both as the material embodiment of the complicated and uneven relationships among and between Tlingit communities and others, and also as a means for disrupting and altering the contexts within which it operates. In order to comprehend the complex ways in which beadwork has circulated, I utilize a case study approach. I investigate the transcultural meanings of beaded regalia and photographs at the 1904 Sitka potlatch; I examine beaded souvenirs made for late Victorian era tourists; I analyze the mid-twentieth century history of the Alaska Native Arts and Crafts Cooperative (ANAC) and the experiences of the nearly 500 Tlingit women who sold beadwork through ANAC; and, I illustrate the multiple roles played by beadwork in terms of Alaskan politics, museum display, and issues of identity at Celebration, an increasingly important gathering of indigenous people. These four case studies, [...]
American Indian Art Magazine, 2008
Journal of Material Culture, 2014
Cotton cloth was rapidly incorporated into Tlingit cultural practices after its introduction in t... more Cotton cloth was rapidly incorporated into Tlingit cultural practices after its introduction in the late 18th century by European explorers and fur traders in Southeast Alaska. The transformation of cloth, both within ceremonial contexts, and perhaps more significantly beyond them, has been all but overlooked. This article explores the innovative ways Tlingit women used cloth and considers the ways in which it participated in the construction of new social circumstances and also masked longstanding cultural practices as it circulated within and between Tlingit and Euro-American settler communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In particular, the author looks at how calico cloth was utilized in relation to the burgeoning tourist industry in Southeast
Alaska and the annual berry feast.
Women and Things, 1750-1950: Gendered Material Strategies, 2009
American Indian Art Magazine, 2008
Reviews by Megan A . Smetzer
RACAR : Revue d'art canadienne
Museum Anthropology, 2015
than solid cast figures, she rendered the group as linear outlines, mirroring the outline techniq... more than solid cast figures, she rendered the group as linear outlines, mirroring the outline technique of ledger drawings. Both Ahtone Harjo and Corcoran have used actual 19th-century documents as part of their images. Ahtone Harjo's mixed media work Last Will and Testament (2005) has two Confederate $10 bills collaged to a legal document that references the story of her great-grandmother, a captive raised by the Kiowa. Corcoran also uses 19th-century ledger paper, as does Haukaas, and often connects the document and its text to the images she portrays. In some of her works, there is clear humor while others are strongly tied to her desire to celebrate and maintain cultural practices. Turkey Dancers (2006) uses an 1895 balance sheet that records taxes paid on previously Nativeowned property lost during the 1889 land run in Indian Territory that opened even more of the region to non-Native settlers. The Turkey Dance, a victory dance, occurs on top of this governmental record and indicates the preservation of culture despite all efforts to eliminate it. Pearce has provided important insight into a recent development in contemporary Native American art. He has explored why the four artists he has selected began working in this style and what they find most powerful about ledger art. Most importantly, he has allowed both the works and their artists to speak effectively concerning past histories, current activities, and future goals. Women and Ledger Art will have a wide appeal to anyone interested in Native American art and the ways in which historic expressions are being re-interpreted by contemporary artists.
Museum Anthropology Review, 2015
RACAR : Revue d'art canadienne, 2014
Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y ... more Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d'utilisation que vous pouvez consulter en ligne. https://apropos.erudit.org/fr/usagers/politique-dutilisation/ Cet article est diffusé et préservé par Érudit. Érudit est un consortium interuniversitaire sans but lucratif composé de l'
Museum Anthropology, 2013
University of Washington Press, 2021
For over 150 years, Tlingit women artists have beaded colorful, intricately beautiful designs on ... more For over 150 years, Tlingit women artists have beaded colorful, intricately beautiful designs on moccasins, dolls, octopus bags, tunics, and other garments. Painful Beauty suggests that at a time when Indigenous cultural practices were actively being repressed, beading supported cultural continuity, demonstrating Tlingit women’s resilience, strength, and power. Beadwork served many uses, from the ceremonial to the economic, as women created beaded pieces for community use and to sell to tourists. Like other Tlingit art, beadwork reflects rich artistic visions with deep connections to the environment, clan histories, and Tlingit worldviews. Contemporary Tlingit artists Alison Bremner, Chloe French, Shgen Doo Tan George, Lily Hudson Hope, Tanis S’eiltin, and Larry McNeil foreground the significance of historical beading practices in their diverse, boundary-pushing artworks.
Working with museum collection materials, photographs, archives, and interviews with artists and elders, Megan Smetzer reframes this often overlooked artform as a site of historical negotiations and contemporary inspirations. She shows how beading gave Tlingit women the freedom to innovate aesthetically, assert their clan crests and identities, support tribal sovereignty, and pass on cultural knowledge. Painful Beauty is the first dedicated study of Tlingit beadwork and contributes to the expanding literature addressing women’s artistic expressions on the Northwest Coast.
Arts, Mar 28, 2024
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Arts, 2024
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Hearts of our People: Native American Women Artists, 2019
Alderwood, paint, hair, cedar bark, abalone, glass beads, moose hide, bone or plastic 121⁄ 4 x 97... more Alderwood, paint, hair, cedar bark, abalone, glass beads, moose hide, bone or plastic 121⁄ 4 x 97⁄8 x 43⁄8 in.
Women, Aging, and Art : A Crosscultural Anthology, edited by Frima Fox Hofrichter, and Midori Yoshimoto, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2021
Journal of Material Culture, 2013
Cotton cloth was rapidly incorporated into Tlingit cultural practices after its introduction in t... more Cotton cloth was rapidly incorporated into Tlingit cultural practices after its introduction in the late 18th century by European explorers and fur traders in Southeast Alaska. The transformation of cloth, both within ceremonial contexts, and perhaps more significantly beyond them, has been all but overlooked. This article explores the innovative ways Tlingit women used cloth and considers the ways in which it participated in the construction of new social circumstances and also masked longstanding cultural practices as it circulated within and between Tlingit and Euro-American settler communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In particular, the author looks at how calico cloth was utilized in relation to the burgeoning tourist industry in Southeast Alaska and the annual berry feast.
Panorama
For over 150 years, Tlingit women artists have beaded colorful, intricately beautiful designs on ... more For over 150 years, Tlingit women artists have beaded colorful, intricately beautiful designs on moccasins, dolls, octopus bags, tunics, and other garments. Painful Beauty suggests that at a time when Indigenous cultural practices were actively being repressed, beading supported cultural continuity, demonstrating Tlingit women’s resilience, strength, and power. Beadwork served many uses, from the ceremonial to the economic, as women created beaded pieces for community use and to sell to tourists. Like other Tlingit art, beadwork reflects rich artistic visions with deep connections to the environment, clan histories, and Tlingit worldviews. Contemporary Tlingit artists Alison Bremner, Chloe French, Shgen Doo Tan George, Lily Hudson Hope, Tanis S’eiltin, and Larry McNeil foreground the significance of historical beading practices in their diverse, boundary-pushing artworks. Working with museum collection materials, photographs, archives, and interviews with artists and elders, Megan Smetzer reframes this often overlooked artform as a site of historical negotiations and contemporary inspirations. She shows how beading gave Tlingit women the freedom to innovate aesthetically, assert their clan crests and identities, support tribal sovereignty, and pass on cultural knowledge. Painful Beauty is the first dedicated study of Tlingit beadwork and contributes to the expanding literature addressing women’s artistic expressions on the Northwest Coast.
The extensive art historical and anthropological literature addressing indigenous Northwest Coast... more The extensive art historical and anthropological literature addressing indigenous Northwest Coast artistic production has, at its center, a "significant silence." Though produced, consumed and valued, in a wide range of cultural contexts, for more than one hundred years, Tlingit beadwork has never been comprehensively analyzed. I engage with, and begin to fill, this significant lacuna in scholarship through the compilation into a catalogue of nearly eleven hundred beaded objects in widely dispersed museum collections, including regalia and other items made for Tlingit use, and souvenirs; the use of theoretical frameworks not previously applied to the Northwest Coast; the critical examination of historic texts and images; and, most importantly, conversations with Tlingit headers and elders. Euro-American constructions of authenticity, tradition, the hierarchy between fine and applied art, as well as notions of hybridity and commoditization created the circumstances for beadwork's marginalization. Drawing on the work of Ruth Phillips, Nicholas Thomas and James Clifford, I argue that beadwork should be considered both as the material embodiment of the complicated and uneven relationships among and between Tlingit communities and others, and also as a means for disrupting and altering the contexts within which it operates. In order to comprehend the complex ways in which beadwork has circulated, I utilize a case study approach. I investigate the transcultural meanings of beaded regalia and photographs at the 1904 Sitka potlatch; I examine beaded souvenirs made for late Victorian era tourists; I analyze the mid-twentieth century history of the Alaska Native Arts and Crafts Cooperative (ANAC) and the experiences of the nearly 500 Tlingit women who sold beadwork through ANAC; and, I illustrate the multiple roles played by beadwork in terms of Alaskan politics, museum display, and issues of identity at Celebration, an increasingly important gathering of indigenous people. These four case studies, [...]
American Indian Art Magazine, 2008
Journal of Material Culture, 2014
Cotton cloth was rapidly incorporated into Tlingit cultural practices after its introduction in t... more Cotton cloth was rapidly incorporated into Tlingit cultural practices after its introduction in the late 18th century by European explorers and fur traders in Southeast Alaska. The transformation of cloth, both within ceremonial contexts, and perhaps more significantly beyond them, has been all but overlooked. This article explores the innovative ways Tlingit women used cloth and considers the ways in which it participated in the construction of new social circumstances and also masked longstanding cultural practices as it circulated within and between Tlingit and Euro-American settler communities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In particular, the author looks at how calico cloth was utilized in relation to the burgeoning tourist industry in Southeast
Alaska and the annual berry feast.
Women and Things, 1750-1950: Gendered Material Strategies, 2009
American Indian Art Magazine, 2008
RACAR : Revue d'art canadienne
Museum Anthropology, 2015
than solid cast figures, she rendered the group as linear outlines, mirroring the outline techniq... more than solid cast figures, she rendered the group as linear outlines, mirroring the outline technique of ledger drawings. Both Ahtone Harjo and Corcoran have used actual 19th-century documents as part of their images. Ahtone Harjo's mixed media work Last Will and Testament (2005) has two Confederate $10 bills collaged to a legal document that references the story of her great-grandmother, a captive raised by the Kiowa. Corcoran also uses 19th-century ledger paper, as does Haukaas, and often connects the document and its text to the images she portrays. In some of her works, there is clear humor while others are strongly tied to her desire to celebrate and maintain cultural practices. Turkey Dancers (2006) uses an 1895 balance sheet that records taxes paid on previously Nativeowned property lost during the 1889 land run in Indian Territory that opened even more of the region to non-Native settlers. The Turkey Dance, a victory dance, occurs on top of this governmental record and indicates the preservation of culture despite all efforts to eliminate it. Pearce has provided important insight into a recent development in contemporary Native American art. He has explored why the four artists he has selected began working in this style and what they find most powerful about ledger art. Most importantly, he has allowed both the works and their artists to speak effectively concerning past histories, current activities, and future goals. Women and Ledger Art will have a wide appeal to anyone interested in Native American art and the ways in which historic expressions are being re-interpreted by contemporary artists.
Museum Anthropology Review, 2015
RACAR : Revue d'art canadienne, 2014
Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y ... more Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d'utilisation que vous pouvez consulter en ligne. https://apropos.erudit.org/fr/usagers/politique-dutilisation/ Cet article est diffusé et préservé par Érudit. Érudit est un consortium interuniversitaire sans but lucratif composé de l'
Museum Anthropology, 2013
Public Art Dialogue, 2011
In Speaking for a Long Time: Public Space & Social Memory in Vancouver, Adrienne Burk examine... more In Speaking for a Long Time: Public Space & Social Memory in Vancouver, Adrienne Burk examines the development and placement of three public monuments in Vancouver parks during the 1990s. Located in close proximity to the Downtown Eastside (DTES), each monument, though different in conception, execution, and reception, commemorates the loss of lives, primarily those of women, through violence. Organized in three parts (Act, Frame, and Forge), Burk outlines the history of each monument, situates them utilizing theoretical approaches to public space, social memory, and the form and placement of memorials, and argues for a “politics of visibility.”1 Act introduces the monuments. Located in Thornton Park,Marker of Change commemorates the fourteen women killed at l’Ecole Polytechnique on December 6, 1989. Though the idea for the project came shortly after the “Montreal Massacre,” its execution took eight years to realize, due to its size and scope. The second monument, a large engraved boulder placed near the waterfront in CRAB Park (a.k.a. Portage Park) in 1997 faced fewer hurdles. Championed by DTES activist, Don Larson, the memorial honors the lives lost due to poverty and violence. On February 14th of each year, it becomes a site of ceremony for the families of the dozens of missing women who eventually came to national attention after years of public indifference. Standing with Courage, Strength and Pride, a totem pole erected in Oppenheimer Park in June of 1998 recognizes those who have died and those who continue to live in the area. Situated at the center of the most ethnically and economically diverse region of the city, the pole has had the greatest community involvement. First Nations artists with connections to multiple communities were the primary carvers of the pole but it was raised by the community at large and continues to receive regular offerings of tobacco, flowers, and other mementoes. Frame situates the monuments within a theoretical context. Burk argues that a consideration of public space and social memory are crucial to understanding the ways in which these monuments differ from “conventional monumental norms”2 and contribute to a “politics of visibility.”3 Drawing on the work of Henri Lefebvre, among others, Burk defines three domains of public space: the imaginative, the discursive, and the physical realm.4 She identifies public space as both constraining and liberating. Memory is also significant because it creates identity in multiple ways, including personally and socially.5 The moral component of memory, bringing forward painful histories that have previously been obscured, can play a role in social justice and strengthen communities. Utilizing Freud and others Burk discusses the concept of crafting memories—turning difficult
Museum Anthropology, 2006
... MEGAN A. SMETZER ... Lenz uses “Kwakiutl” and “Bella Coola” to refer to Canadian First Nation... more ... MEGAN A. SMETZER ... Lenz uses “Kwakiutl” and “Bella Coola” to refer to Canadian First Nations groups who call themselves “Kwakwaka'wakw” and “Nuxalk.” In addition, Native peoples living in Western and Northern Alaska, Canada, and Greenland are generically referred to ...
Canadian Literature Litterature Canadienne a Quarterly O Criticism and Review, 2002