Old Days Modern Ways
Ken Williams Jr., Arapaho / Seneca / American, born 1983
Inunaina (Arapaho)
Seneca (Haudenosaunee)
2018
Vintage and new glass beads, silk ribbon, porcupine quills, wool, shell, seed pearls, hubble glass beads, brass thimbles, deer hide, brass beads, brass bells, vintage Swarovski sew downs, cow hide latigo, brass rings, human hair, marabou turkey feathers
Overall: 10 1/8 × 8 in. (25.7 × 20.3 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Virginia and Preston T. Kelsey 1958 Fund
© Ken Williams Jr.
2018.17
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
21st century
Object Name
Personal Gear: Bag
Research Area
Native American
Native American: Woodlands
On view
Label
This vibrant beaded bag features a recreated historic photograph of a Shoshone couple on the front and colorful cotton candy–inspired patterns on the back. The artist blends traditional techniques with a contemporary aesthetic, incorporating materials like hair, feathers, bells, and silk ribbons to create a unique style that also honors his heritage. Old Days Modern Ways demonstrates some of the ways in which contemporary artists (re)appropriate historical representations of American Indian people. As a male beader, Williams likewise embodies shifting gender roles in beadwork. By innovating within the art form, he challenges the idea that Indigenous art must conform to traditional expectations.
From the 2025 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 122, Weaving Ké, curated by Nizhonie Denetsosie-Gomez '25, Conroy Intern
Course History
NAS 30.18, Indians Who Rock the World: Native American Contemporary Music, Davina Two Bears, Spring 2019
ARTH 5, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2020
NAS 30.21, Native American Art and Material, Jami Powell, Spring 2020
NAS 30.21, Native American Art and Material, Jami Powell, Spring 2021
English 62.05, Horrors of Survival: Modern American Literature, Jamie Godley, Summer 2023
Writing 2.06, The American Mosaic: Literature, Essays, and Memoirs from the Voices of the Subaltern, Doug Moody, Fall 2023
Exhibition History
A Space for Dialogue 122, Weaving Ké, Nizhonie Denetsosie-Gomez '25, Conroy Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, July 25 - March 30, 2025.
Publication History
John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 221, ill. plate no. 152.
Provenance
Artist’s studio; Shiprock Santa Fe Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico; sold to present collection, 2018.
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