Cooper Hewitt says...
Teri Greeves (b. 1970) was born on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and is an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma. Her mother Jeri Ah-be-hill owned a trading post on the reservation in Wyoming among the Shoshone and Northern Arapaho, where Greeves gained a deep understanding of a range of Native American art forms. At an early age Greeves was drawn to a variety of tribal beadwork traditions and began working in the medium at the age of eight. She attended the University of California, Santa Cruz, and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in American Studies in 1995.
Currently based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Greeves has developed her own visual language by combining the abstract, geometric motifs of Kiowa beadwork with the pictorial style of the Shoshone. She often makes references to popular culture as a commentary on Kiowa culture thriving in the contemporary world. Greeves beads on two-dimensional surfaces and everyday objects like umbrellas, high-heeled shoes, and Chuck Taylor sneakers. Her work has gained wide recognition and has been collected by numerous public institutions including the British Museum, the Heard Museum, the New Mexico Museum of Art, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Brooklyn Museum, the Denver Art Museum, and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, among many others.
