Lois Sherr Dubin | Lectures & Talks

Lectures & Talks

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Lois Sherr Dubin speaking about the evil eye to The American Society of Jewelry Historians at Phillips Gallery, New York. March 2019.

Lois Sherr Dubin has lectured internationally and nationally on beads, jewelry and Native North American adornment for more than thirty years. She has been called “the doyenne of the bead world” * —knowledgeable on everything from ivory beads carved by Paleolithic artisans to glass beads created by contemporary artists.

A hallmark of Dubin’s spirited and visually stimulating lectures is explaining how and why adornment—beads, jewelry, clothing—is more than surface beauty. In discussing the enduring and global interest of beads, for example, Dubin relates the fascinating story of their origins, materials, multifold uses, travels and potent symbolism. “The connection with beads,” says Dubin, “is primal. For me, having history, quality, craftsmanship and design—all in a string of beads you wear—is as good as it gets.”

*New York Times,
October 7, 1990

A partial listing of lectures includes:

  • American Society of Jewelry Historians, 2015, 2019
  • First International Bead Conference, Los Angeles, 1985: Keynote speaker
  • Second International Bead Conference, Washington, DC., 1990: Keynote speaker
  • International Bead and Beadwork Conference, Istanbul, Turkey, 2007: Keynote speaker
  • American Craft Museum, NY, 2000
  • American Museum of Natural History, 1987, 1999, 2004
  • Anchorage Historical and Fine Arts Museum, 2005
  • Autry National Center of the American West, 1999, 2005, 2014
  • Art Institute of Chicago, 1991
  • Bead Society of Greater Chicago, 1991, 2006
  • Bead Society of Greater Washington, DC, 1987, 1994, 2001
  • Bead Society of Long Island, 2014
  • Bead Society of Los Angeles, 1993
  • Bead Society of New Hampshire, 2010
  • Bead Society of New York, 1995, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014
  • Bead Society of Seattle, 2001
  • Bead Society of the South Shore of Boston 2013
  • Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, California, 2000
  • Choctaw Authors Symposium, Mississippi, 1998
  • City of Ketchikan Museum, Alaska, 1990
  • Dallas Museum of Art, 2013
  • Denver Art Museum, 1987, 2014
  • Denver Museum of Natural History, 2002
  • Douglas Society, Denver, 1987, 2000
  • Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, 2006,
  • Fernbank Museum, Atlanta 2005
  • Field Museum, Chicago, 1999
  • Heard Museum, Phoenix, 2010
  • Indian Arts and Crafts Association Spring Market, 2000
  • Indianapolis Art Museum, 2012
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1999
  • Los Angles Museum of Natural History, 1999
  • Mingei International Museum, 1997, 1999
  • Museum of Art and Design, NY, 2012
  • Museum of Indian Arts and Culture/Laboratory of Anthropology, Santa Fe, 1999
  • National Museum of the American Indian, 2006, 2013, 2014, 2015
  • Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 1999
  • Peabody Museum, Harvard University, 1992, 1998
  • Royal College of Art, London, 1999
  • Seattle Metals Guild Symposium, Seattle, 2006
  • Siam Society, Bangok, Thailand, 2009
  • Sotheby’s Institute of Art, NY, 2018, 2019
  • Southern Plains Indian Museum, Andarko, Oklahoma, 1999
  • Textile Society of New York, 2012
  • The American Society of Trust and Estate Council, Scottsdale, 2000
  • The Bead Museum, 2009
  • University of British Columbia, Vancouver, 1998
  • University of Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia, 1988, 1999
  • Vancouver Art Museum, 2006