As I was admiring a boot-shaped pincushion (circa 1900) in the historical section of Across Borders, a friend came up to show me something she had just bought. It was an equally beautiful pincushion of almost identical design, but the date on it was 2000. The pincushion was created by beadworker Penny Hudson of the Tuscarora Nation, who was participating that day in a museum-sponsored demonstration/sale of Native beadwork.

The two pincushions, one hundred years apart, share much more than their floral motifs and Victorian design. They share a living tradition. The curatorial team for this exhibition of historic and contemporary beadwork consulted living beadworkers as much as possible; in the process, they created new dialogues between historians, museum professionals, and artists; between Iroquois and non-Iroquois; between received ideas relating to the historic role of beadwork and fresh concepts regarding beadwork's continuing resonance as a fundamental part of Iroquois life.

True to its title, Across Borders is essentially a collaboration between the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University in Lewiston, New York; the McCord Museum in Montreal, Quebec; and two corresponding communities of Iroquois beadworkers—the Tuscarora and the Kahnawake Mohawk. Through a process of exploring historic collections, interviewing contemporary artists, and continually revising, adding, and discussing, the exhibition was born. Tuscarora artist/scholar Jolene Rickard, currently on the art history faculty of the University at Buffalo, saw an opportunity to present both pre- and post-contact Native work together in a way that shows how new kinds of creativity evolved after contact and continue to evolve. Rather than looking back at a dead or nearly extinguished culture, Across Borders demonstrates the ongoing vitality of an undervalued artform.

Even the flowers on the two pincushions I've mentioned serve a conceptual as well as a decorative function. According to the Iroquois world-view, plants are always used in design as vital symbols of all the gifts of the Creator. Thus, most beadwork, both historic and contemporary, repeats motifs essential to the Iroquois cosmology: the Sky World from which a woman fell; the turtle's back upon which she landed; the twins she eventually bore; the plants, animals, birds, trees, water, and wind that inhabit and surround the earth—Turtle Island. Across Borders' "Sky Dome" installation in the Castellani's first gallery illustrates this cross-generational continuity with work from both known and unknown nineteenth- and twentieth-century artisans.

As the exhibition continues, the beginnings of the tradition are explained and the first elements of beadwork—shell, bone and stone beads, porcupine quills—appear. The highlight of this section is undoubtedly a magnificent eighteenth-century Two-Dog wampum belt made of purple quahog shell wampum beads that commemorates an agreement between the French and the Mohawk at Oka. Later in the section, the inclusion of European glass beads and the birth of beaded souvenirs is explained and demonstrated through the inclusion of gorgeously ornamented chatelaine bags and eighteenth-century sports and traveling caps, replete with raised designs of birds and flowers. That this artform was abundantly indebted to and formed by the needs and tastes of the Victorian traveler only adds to its fascination. Exotic "smoking caps," "scissors cases," and other fussy minutia of outmoded utility fill most of this early section of the exhibition. The Victorians' intense dedication to hand-decorated tchotchkes is matched by the Iroquois artisans' inventive ability to combine traditional motifs with contemporary mores.

Other installations feature magnificently beaded ceremonial wear, much of which was used for the kinds of "living history" traveling shows put together by the Iroquois to take further advantage of a receptive Victorian market. There are also step-by-step presentations of how a beadworked object takes its form. In a helpful comparison of the five types of beading that have evolved over the years, it does seem as though a more colorful and organic aesthetic has prevailed in recent times; one seldom sees the spare linear style or raised red and white style in contemporary work.

This contemporary work is unquestionably the star of the huge show. While everything is handsomely presented in sleek, oversized formica-covered wood and plexiglass, the work of the living artists—whose faces I saw in photographic blow-ups as well as in person during their live presentations—leaps out from these elegant presentations. Together with large portraits of their creators, there are formal table coverings, wallets, needle cases, pincushions, and other more traditional functional items. Highlights here are Rosemary Hill's purple and teal table doily, Lorna Hill's needlecase, and Sam Thomas' pincushion spouting a fountain of white beads—though it's hard to find a "miss" in this closely packed array. Lively as they are, though, these cases are restrained compared to the room devoted to beadwork and contemporary pop culture.

Here are the beadwork-adorned Barbies, the beadwork-framed photographs of Princess Di, the beadwork Converse sneakers, the red velvet beadwork prom gown. Just as the Victorians personalized their spaces by borrowing from a culture they considered desirably exotic, the Iroquois transform the generic detritus of American culture with timeless decorations that set these mass-produced items instantly apart. Beadwork's essential character of dignified and significant adornment is seen to best advantage in the many examples, both photographed and in live display, of Iroquois babies and young children wearing beaded outfits.

The exhibition's emphasis on contemporary work in traditional styles is more than enough to demonstrate its viability today, but the inclusion of three installations by fine artists who use beadwork as well as sculpture and photography brings the show further into current conceptual idioms. Here, Shelly Niro's series of beaded caps, ornamented with stars, thunderbolts, mirrors, and other mixed media (including beads) is the stand-out example. A photographic series by Jeffrey Thomas is also well-conceived, with the photographs forming a contemporary wampum belt of Native-inspired "monuments."

Although Across Borders will travel throughout the United States and Canada, and involves a formidable group of Canadian, U.S., and Iroquois scholars and artists, probably the most satisfying element of the show is that it raises the work of a small group of women and men, living modestly within five minutes of the Castellani Art Museum, to a deservedly exalted level. Working at kitchen tables, investing inexpensively in the wares of nearby beadshops, these nearly anonymous artists have kept one of the New World's oldest creative traditions alive. It's high time that their names, faces, and extraordinary creative output were better known in the world of contemporary culture.

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Across Borders was presented at the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University July 2-November 19, 2000. The curatorial team of Across Borders consisted of: Kanatakta, Director of the Kanien'kehaka Raotitiohkwa Cultural Center; Kate Koperski, folk arts curator, Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University; Moira McCaffrey, Director of Curatorial Services, McCord Museum of Canadian History; Dr. Trudy Nicks, Curator, Royal Ontario Museum; Dr. Sandra Olsen, Director, Castellani Art Museum; Dr. Ruth Phillips, Director, Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia; and Dr. Jolene Rickard, Assistant Professor of Art and Art History, State University of New York at Buffalo. The project is funded by Heritage Canada, Canada Council for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Rockefeller Foundation, John Bead Corp. Ltd., and Le Chateau. It next travels to the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec from May 25-October 28, 2001 before coming to the National Museum of the American Indian Smithsonian Institute in New York City from December 9, 2001-May 19, 2002 and then traveling to two other museums in the U.S. and Canada.

Elizabeth Licata is a writer and independent curator living in Buffalo.