From Grandmothers to Daughters to Granddaughters

The Couse Collection of Native Beadwork

- CHELSEA M. HERR and E. JANE BURNS

Powerful patterns of color and design characterize the beaded objects that the artist Eanger Irving Couse collected throughout his lifetime. Most of the 76 objects in the collection were produced from about 1830 to 1930 in different locations across the Great Plains. A number of items come from the Columbia River Plateau where Couse lived and worked during the early years of his career. All were fashioned with exceptional skill and artistry.

At the same time, the exquisitely beaded garments and accessories convey complex histories resonating far beyond their current lives in a museum setting. Although these items were produced during a specific historic era, we understand them to exist on a continuum that reaches back through many earlier generations and extends forward to include beadwork production today. Many Indigenous communities in North America create objects with vitality in and of themselves. From this perspective, objects continue to live long after they leave the hands of the artist. Generations of Native peoples have relied on and interacted with beaded objects while those objects relied on their communities to animate them and their stories. And yet beaded items are not always intended to last indefinitely. Many artists recognize the importance of allowing a beaded object to deteriorate over time. Much like humans, who have finite lifespans, the objects they create will also eventually age.