A Great Day Out

Margaret Wheeler and I went to Birmingham Museums Warehouse this morning and spent several hours being shown Native American artefacts by a curator. Margaret was only interested in clothing but there was still a lot to see. These moccasins are made of buckskin and decorated, not with beads but with dyed porcupine quills cut into short lengths (Hence 'Quillwork'). There were several pairs of moccasins which would be wearable today.

And here is a baby's bonnet decorated with beads which they got from the Europeans. Mostly the bead size size is 1mm but, to vary the pattern, there might be a section in still larger beads.

This is a purse made of very thin birch bark - you can see some vertical flecks on the bark. The rest is embroidery. The purse is about four inches wide and high. This is from NE America.

There is a lot more stuff which I photographed but I can't show it all! I then drove the car into the middle of Birmingham and we walked over to the Museum through the Canal area, had lunch in the Museum and went straight up to the Native American exhibits.  Very oddly exhibited with all sorts of localities and cultures mixed up. The grandest of their holdings were here which included the  item shown below.

This is a hood for a woman. The fringe, formed of beads would have lain on her shoulders. Again probably NE American.

After that we looked at the Stafford hoard and marvelled at the intricate workmanship. Then at various other exhibits - not including the pre-Raphaelites whom I cannot stand. And finally across the street to a Bridget Riley show which was wonderful

I thought we had had enough of culture so I drove Margaret through the West Midlands countryside to Bewdley where she was very taken with the swans on the river and the black and white buildings. Home at 5 o'clock, having left before nine.