Power of Place — Strength of Being - The Oneida Nation of Wisconsin

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Foreword:
Amazing. That is what people feel when they see Samuel Thomas’s
beadwork and especially amazing are the pieces of beadwork created
in his latest project Power of Place – Strength of Being. The authors of
the essays in this publication clearly agree as you will see when you read
what they have written about Sam and his ambitious project. In addition,
the essay writers, internationally recognized artists, professors, and
museum professionals, are pretty amazing people themselves. All
are experts on Haudenosaunee art including beadwork, many have
published on various aspects of this increasingly appreciated art form.
Most have followed Sam’s career for twenty-five years or more. They
not only see Sam’s artwork as amazing, they see his career from a selftaught
teenager from the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve to a
world traveler as amazing also.
Sam visited six places of power, created six pieces of beadwork inspired
by those six places, and includes six essays in this publication. Each
essay describes the writer’s impressions of the beadwork that Sam
created during his journeys to powerful places in Africa, Europe, and
the Americas.
Shelley Niro, who like Sam, calls the Six Nations of the Grand River
Reserve home, is a talented Mohawk artist who recognizes the art form
and both the historical and contemporary aspects of his work. Dr. Trudy
Nicks, Senior Curator for the Royal Ontario Museum’s Department of
World Cultures, points out the common experiences of indigenous
people, including the Haudenosaunee and those people native to
the places Sam visited. Dr. Ruth Phillips, Canada Research Chair in
Modern Culture, Carleton University, a cosmopolitan herself, and an
internationally acclaimed academician praises the broad scope of this
cross-cultural project. Richard Green, of the Birmingham Museums
& Art Gallery, Birmingham, England, expresses his appreciation of
Sam’s project in light of his own international expertise in the globewide
history of beadwork and trade. And Dr. Susan M. Hill, Assistant
Professor of Indigenous Studies & Contemporary Studies at Wilfrid
Laurier University, who shares Sam’s Haudenosaunee philosophy of
life, emphasizes the importance of places of power throughout time. In
the sixth essay, Sam describes his vision of Power of Place – Strength
of Being, a project that allowed him to explore places of power to
create these amazing pieces of bead art.
Dolores N. Elliott
Binghamton, New York.