Kiowa designer beads shoes

Jessica R. Metcalfe of the Beyond Buckskin blog tells us about someone who beads high-top shoes instead of moccasins:

Designer Profile | Teri GreevesTeri Greeves
Kiowa

Teri Greeves grew up on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and began beading when she was eight years old. Since then, she has developed her own style and has become known for beading on unusual surfaces. Her medium of choice, beadwork, represents Native adaptability to new materials because it references the interaction and cultural exchange with Europeans who first introduced trade beads to Native Americans centuries ago.

Eclectic and vibrantly colored, her fully beaded high-top shoes combine contemporary Native realities with traditional oral historical themes, and modernizes the tradition of beading moccasins. Through her work she hopes to educate by sharing the history and values of her people, and to bring beauty into the world in new ways. Although many of Greeves’ pieces are for adornment, essentially, she says, “I bead contemporary Native life.”Comment:  Follow the link for more examples of Greeves's work.

For more on Native shoes, see Gong's Shoes in Fashion Showcase and Nike Shoes Aid Native Youth Sports.