Adventures throughout Time – The Bead Museum
Posted in Family Fun, Historic, Museums, Shopping, Southwest, Travel | By Shelley Gillespie | Tags: Art, Phoenix, Southwest
Every girl likes her pearls – or other beads. It turns out that men, too, throughout time have valued beads. Beads are the featured and the only items on display in the unique Bead Museum in Glendale, Arizona.
What are beads? Anything that has a hole in it that can be strung. That means that our ancestors of 13,000 years ago who took a reindeer tooth and strung it on a leather strand had an early bead.
Iridescent decoration made from beetle wings
Beads have been made from organic materials – feathers, beetle wings, animal vertebrae, seeds, shells, coral, gourds and more. They also have been made with glass, turquoise, clay, gold or just about any materials you can imagine.
So, why has humanity embraced the use of beads? The Bead Museum shows many of the ways human beings have made beads part of our lives. In an extensive collection amassed by founder Gabriele Liese, the Bead Museum is a tribute to her fascination with beads and their origins and usage.
Beads of many uses
The uses can be mundane, like necklaces put on donkeys to status symbols for kings. Quitting smoking, tribal adornment, fertility enhancement, worry reduction, and amulets to ward off the “evil eye” have been some of the uses of beads through the centuries.
King of beads wards off evil
Although the Bead Museum deals with beads as its only item, the many examples of beads give a visitor a full view of history, culture and life on earth for many thousands of years. Beauty and amazing craftsmanship are evident in every display.
Beaded hat worn by Nigerian tribal leader
A rotating exhibit is currently showing artifacts from “Nagaland,” a culture that, until the 1970s, took heads as a status symbol. The Indian government outlawed the practice.
If you’re planning travel to Phoenix, Arizona, The Bead Museum is a quirky side trip that you’ll find fascinating.
The Bead Museum has a gift shop where you can purchase items as diverse as necklaces (really gorgeous, constructed from magazines!) made by young African boys who are trying to escape poverty, to beads with which you can make your own necklaces.
Convenient free parking is available just down the street in downtown Glendale, Arizona. Glendale is also known for its many antique shops, another excursion to consider.
The Bead Museum is at 5754 West Glenn Drive, Glendale, Arizona. They welcome school groups and families.
See www.beadmuseumaz.org for additional information.