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Abstraction: Kiowa by Design

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Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Abstraction: Kiowa by Design
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.

Abstraction: Kiowa by Design

Artist (Kiowa, born 1970)
Date2014
MediumBeads on canvas high-heeled sneakers
Dimensions11 1/2 in. × 10 in. × 4 in. each
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2021.40
Accession number 2021.40
On View
Not on view
Provenancepurchased by GAE LLC, Bentonville, AR, 2015 (in conjunction with the 2014 Crystal Bridges exhibition State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now); transferred to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2021
Label TextTeri Greeves trained in the Kiowa and Shoshone beadwork traditions. She applies beadwork to everyday objects from the non-Native world. Abstraction: Kiowa by Design portrays a woman in traditional Kiowa dress on the surface of her shoes. In doing this, she exposes the tension inherent in Native design, past and present. This work recalls fashion designer Norma Kamali’s imaginative 1980s high-heeled sneakers that turned the most functional of footwear into high fashion.

Teri Greeves se formó en las tradiciones kiowa y shoshone del bordado con cuentas. La artista aplica el bordado con cuentas a objetos cotidianos del mundo no indígena. Abstracción: Kiowa por diseño retrata a una mujer con la vestimenta tradicional kiowa en la superficie de sus zapatos. De este modo, expone la tensión inherente al diseño indígena, tanto en el pasado como en el presente. Esta obra evoca las llamativas zapatillas de tacón alto de la diseñadora de moda Norma Kamali en la década de 1980, que convirtieron el calzado más funcional a la alta costura.

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