Beaded Skulls, Margaret Arnold

Beaded Skulls, Margaret Arnold
The beauty and grace of a skull cannot escape the burden of its symbolism, grim and disturbing concepts such as violence, mortality and evil. Though in modern popular culture the symbol of the skull has moved from the fringe province of bikers and the tattooed to that of the general population (today anyone from a toddler up can be outfitted with skull tennis shoes, socks, shorts, t-shirts and all accessories), the skull remains a symbol of general and directionless rebelliousness, even in pink, even on a beach umbrella. The bead is likewise fraught with religious, cultural and social significance. Beads have turned up in sites more than 80,000 years old and mark the beginnings of human symbolic thought, originally representing or conferring abstractions such as status, power and magic. In many cultures today beads retain this association with social, religious and economic position.

In joining skulls and beads I hope to use each to relieve the other of its historical significance and allow the pure beauty of each to emerge- to see the skull as a simple, clean form, relieved of its ponderous darkness by the addition of brilliantly colored, bright and shiny objects, and to see beads as purely delightful, relieved of their endless cultural significance by pairing them with death, the great equalizer.

White Tailed Deer
Available at Manitou Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
American Bison
American Bison, approx. 24" long

Available at Manitou Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Margaret Arnold, Javelina
$2,000.00
Raccoon
Raccoon, approx. 5" long

Unavailable
Ram
Ram, approx. 12" long

Available at Manitou Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Coyote (4)
Coyote, approx 7.5" long
$800.00
Coyote with mandible
Coyote, approx. 7.5" long
$800.00
Horse
Horse, approx. 19" long
$2,500.00
Bobcat
Bobcat, approx. 4.75" long
$700.00
Red Fox 1
Red Fox 1, approx. 5" long
$500.00
Nutria
Nutria, approx 4" long
$500.00
Muskrat
Muskrat, approx. 2.5 " long
$350.00
Caracal
Caracal. approx. 5" long

Available at j27 Gallery. 2728 J Street. Sacramento, CA
Coyote (1)
Coyote, approx. 7.5 " long

Available at j27 Gallery, 2728 J Street, Sacramento, CA
Coyote (3)
Coyote, approx. 7.5 " long

Available at j27 Gallery, 2728 J Street, Sacramento, CA
Coyote
Coyote, approx. 7.5" long

Unavailable
Gray Fox
Gray Fox, approx. 4.5" long

Unavailable
Rat
Rat, approx. 1.75" long

Unavailable
Bobcat 2
Bobcat, approx. 4.5 " long

Unavailable
Red Fox 2
Red Fox 2, approx. 5.5" long

Unavailable