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The Collector(s) / Donor(s) Marsha MacDowell is the Head of the Folks Arts Division at Michigan State University Museum, and also serves as a member of the University's Department of Art faculty. Kurt Dewhurst is the Director of Michigan State University Museum, Curator in the Museum's Folks Arts Division, and a member of the English Department faculty at Michigan State University. Dewhurst and MacDowell, who often work as a team, made their first trip to South Africa in 1997. During their initial and subsequent trips to South Africa their long-standing research interests in both regional traditional arts and Native American basketmaking, beadwork, and carving traditions drew them to focus on similar genres of specific peoples situated in regions of South Africa. This object as well as a number of other pieces were collected for the Museum within the context of this field research. Collector(s) / Donor(s) Statement The Object(s) Beadwork has a long and rich history among the Zulu peoples of South Africa. Here one finds a magnificent tradition of using beads in a variety of contexts, including personal adornment and as a medium for decorating a variety of objects. Beaded sculpture, like this representation of dog, is associated with a place commonly referred to as the Valley of a Thousand Hills, located near Durban. In recent years, a wide variety of beaded sculptures representing diverse subjects have been made by women like Khulumelaphi Hlambisa primarily for tourists visiting the region. One of the most influential figures in the promotion of South African arts and artists and the founder of the African Art Centre in Durban was Jo Thorpe. On each side of the dog there is white beadwork lettering that reads "SPOT" and "SPORT". According to MacDowell and Dewhurst, Hlambisa created this dog in honor of Thorpe who always carried her real dog SPOT wherever she went. It is not clear whether the appearance of the word "SPORT" on one side of the sculpture is a misspelling or has some other significance. Further Information Books and Articles Eleanor Preston-Whyte. "Zulu Bead Sculptors." African Arts 24 (1) 1991: 64-76, 104. Frank Jolles. "Contemporary Zulu Dolls from kwaLatha: The Work of Mrs. Hluphekile Zuma and Her Friends." African Arts 27 (2) 1994: 54-69, 95. Eleanor Preston-Whyte and Jo Thorpe. "Ways of Seeting, Ways of Buying; Images of Tourist Art and Culture Expression in Contemporary Beadwork." African Art in Southern Africa: From Tradition to Township, eds. A. Nettleton and D. Hammond-Tooke, pp. 123-51. Johannesburg: AD Donker, 1989. Eleanor Preston-Whyte and Jo Thorpe. "Dolls in Profusion: Bead Sculptures from the Valley of a Thousand Hills." Diversity and Interaction: Proceedings of the S.A. Association of Art Historians 5th Annual Conference, 17-19 July 1989, edited by Hans Fransen. Durban: University of Natal, 1989. Jean Morris and Eleanor Preston-Whyte. Speaking with Beads: Zulu Arts from Southern Africa (New York: Thames and Hudson Inc., 1994). Internet Resources
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