glass trade beads | Bonnie Halsey Dutton

Thread of Trade

The history of trade contributes in large part to my current paintings, as I look at global trade from a contemporary perspective.

Something precious and beautiful created through heat and fire.

A broad expanse of ocean connects continents and cultures.

What is lost from sight is often left behind. Yet, what has been discarded and forgotten can be once again rediscovered and reinterpreted.

A fiction: a profusion of color, texture and action.

A careless action: a valuable treasure lost.

A final polish before being sent out into the world.

The profusion of colored glass in this painting is more than the sum of its parts.

This painting is about what is just beneath the surface: a thread of an idea.

Trade beads were popular currency in early western expansion, and are still sought after today.