Beaded-figures exhibit travels to Valley during national museum tour

June 7,2005

DAWN DE BUSK/Frontiersman reporter

WASILLA - A beaded rooster designed by a Wasilla artist is strutting and crowing its way across the nation as part of a beaded-figure exhibit that began its museum tour in April 2005.

"It took five months to complete. I beaded a small, stuffed chicken. It was the first time I had beaded on something so soft. It was a little challenging," Beth Blankenship said. "One of my sisters-in-law wants to know when it'll be for sale."

Not yet. The lord of the henhouse follows up a visit to New York City with a stint at the Dorothy Page Museum and Visitors Center in Wasilla from June 10 through July 29.

The beaded rooster joins 45 other pieces for a contemporary, beaded-figure display juried by "Beadwork" magazine.

The show, "Beadwork IV," kicks off with an opening reception June 10 from 5 - 7 p.m. Jurors selected from 169 pieces from all over the world, including New Zealand, Japan and Italy. Three of the artists, whose work was chosen, hail from Alaska; two of those beading enthusiasts call the Valley home.

"I was very excited when I heard because I hadn't entered anything before," Wasilla resident Connie Halvorson said. She said a girlfriend urged her to enter after seeing a mythical seal-maiden Halvorson beaded. Since the topic of the juried show was beaded figures, her completed work "just fit," she said.

With one high school graduation, a college graduation party and one wedding in the near future, Halvorson doesn't think she'll have time to attend Friday's reception. She says she didn't enter the competition for recognition.

"Mostly, I just make beadwork for family and friends, and that's good enough for me," Halvorson said.

Jeanette Shanigan, who has been beading for 38 years and retired as a teacher from Chugiak High School last year, played an instrumental part in getting Beadwork IV to the local museum.

Shanigan took an Athabaskan basket-weaving class through the museum, and started talking to former Museum Registrar Tonya Cribb about rerouting the beaded figure exhibit to the Valley.

"Two of the women are from Wasilla, which is unheard of. Let's strut our stuff for good ol' hometown Wasilla," Shanigan said. "I've been sort of annoyed that there wasn't more going on at the museum. There's no fee for the display, other than transportation and insurance. When I want something, I can be kinda pushy, and Tonya didn't push back."

So, the Dorothy Page Museum was added to the list of stops for Beadwork IV. Museum Aide Margaret Rogers spent the first weekend of June unpacking and taking inventory of the exhibit.

Although this may be the first time Mat-Su residents get a chance to view the exhibit, it's not the first time Cheryl Lacy's art has traveled with the juried show. Last year, the Aleut artist's work joined the Beaded Cloth exhibit.

This year, Lacy's beaded figure, "She wore fishnet stockings," flew across the United States, from museum to museum. The figure - a 3-inch-tall doll - wears fishnet stockings, with fish swimming around her legs.

"Cheryl is a very, very talented artist. She does not only beadwork, but painting and quilting," Shanigan said.

Lacy learned to bead when she was a young girl, but picked up the craft again about 15 years ago, she said.

Blankenship, who has a bachelor of fine arts degree in painting and graphic design, introduced herself to the art of beadwork about five years ago.

"I was working on a show with one of my sisters - a collaboration. I needed something colorful and beautiful for a suitcase I was working on, and the beads just fit the bill," she said. So, she got a book from the library, taught herself, and then enrolled in workshops later.

Since then, Blankenship's beadwork has been showcased in the Earth, Fire and Fibre exhibit at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, and in exhibits with Bead International and Bead Dream.

Beadwork IV, which arrived from New York City's Museum of Art & Design, will be available for viewing at the Dorothy Page Museum until late July. Then, the exhibit travels to California for a weekend at the Sonoma Wine Country Glass, Art and Bead Festival. The show winds down with a Jan. 2, 2006 opening at the Loveland Museum & Gallery in Colorado.

"Beadwork" magazine featured the beadwork show in its February/March 2005 issue.

Dawn De Busk can be reached at 352-2252, or dawn.debusk

@frontiersman.com.