Beaded Sneakers
I first found Teri Greeves at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City. I later learned that she grew up on the Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, just a few miles from Bill and Carole Smith’s Wyo Quarter Horse Ranch. Those gorgeous hills I’ve looked at while washing dishes or sitting in someone’s truck bed talking on the phone, that’s where Teri learned to bead when she was eight years old.
At the museum, I was mesmerized by these bright cuff bracelets that were for sale in the store. But Teri’s larger work is far more extraordinary. All I could think when I saw these high-heel bright pink high top tennis shoes depicting girls in ceremonial costumes and girls shooting hoops, Rezpride and Rezgirlz side by side, was “No way!” I’m always in awe of the artist intelligent and graceful enough to meld beauty and power with a sense of lightness. I also love her beaded book “Indian Couture: A Book of Dance and Dress” for its detail of design and movement, the thoughtfulness of all the gorgeous warriors in her “Prayer Blanket” and the truly very funny piece “NDN ART”. But if I could have a piece of Teri’s in my own collection, it would definitely be a pair of beaded sneakers. I can’t imagine anything more fun than a sparkly work of art to walk around in, making people smile.
Photo courtesy of Jane Sauer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM. Check out more of Teri’s work there, or at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, AZ.
