Art & Culture
Jamie Okuma
Art to Adorn
TEXT BY JENNIFER MOULAISON
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CAMERON LINTON
Detailed, exhaustive, complex or any other single term used to
describe the profoundly intricate beadwork that adorns designer
Jamie Okuma’s shoes, handbags, accessories and garments feels
just a little inadequate. Her bold aesthetic, which is steeped in
Native American culture, comes from her formative years as
a child, when she attended annual pow-wows with her grandmother at the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in Idaho. Taking in
the traditions of dance and music at the pow-wows meant she
required something appropriate to wear and Okuma began creating extravagantly beaded clothes suitable for the occasion. Her
mother, who is also an artist, actively kept Okuma surrounded
by the world of art, often taking her to gallery showings and art
exhibits. Okuma’s creative pursuits lead to her own exhibit by
age eighteen. Now residing on a reservation in La Jolla, Okuma
continues to maintain her heritage, providing us with an established collection of wearable art that might leave its possessor
conflicted with the notion of actually wearing such dazzling
pieces. To answer this question, and a few others, we sat down
with the exceptional artist herself and the enlightening discussion left nothing to be desired.
Your artistic career began very early. Does the accomplishment of your current work reflect much of the style
you began with, or have you completely evolved since
that time?
I would say both. The very first beaded piece (which I still have)
was based on traditional designs, which I still do today. The evolution is in the direction of my work and the modernization of
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traditional designs. What started out as a necessity for being
able to dance at pow-wows as a child turned into a career in art.
My first pieces and what I had continued to do for about 12 years
was the mix-media sculptures. They are, in an essence, miniature people. So I moved from making miniature native clothing
to actual native inspired ready-to-wear and couture pieces.
There are many natural influences and materials used in
your pieces, such as animal hides and shearling. What are
your sources for these materials?
Detail and quality are the two elements I obsess about most.
When working leather or shearling it has to be Italian, which
I get from Italy. I have yet to see any better. My native pieces
(beadwork) are always native brain-tanned buckskin that is used
to bead on. It is the gold standard in Native American attire and
base for beadwork. And in particular my brain-tanned buckskin
comes from my grandmothers reservation, Fort Hall in Idaho.
The beads I use are mostly antique seed beads from France, Italy
and Czechoslovakia.
In elaborate works such as in your Art to Carry collection, are these intended for use in an everyday
fashion or should these be viewed and respected for their
aesthetic value?
Honestly it is for both intentions and always has been according
to my collectors. It is what I have been told they love about my
work. It is truly wearable art and the bags specifically are made
to be used, and then can be displayed as an art piece.