Publications
In addition to my full-time studio jewelry practice,
I continue a part-time scholarly practice I started in 1995, focusing mostly on the history of beadwork in Asia, especially the beadwork of China. Documenting ideas from other artists, cultures and eras brings new ideas for my jewelry designs…while fulfilling my need to explore, connect and preserve.
Below, a partial list of publications I’ve written or co-edited over the years, followed by publications written about me or my work.
Thank you for your interest.
—Valerie
Publications by Valerie Hector
Left: Cover of Beads 34, featuring a Dayak beaded baby carrier panel plaited with European glass beads and pineapple fiber (?) thread.
Image courtesy Karlis Karklins.
"EVOKING THE ASO’: DAYAK BEADED BABY CARRIER PANELS WITH DRAGON-DOG MOTIFS”
by Valerie Hector
A close study of eleven beaded baby carrier panels - including nine previously unpublished examples - affirms the Dayaks’ artistic genius while leading us to question received wisdom. In Beads: The Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 34 (2022), p. 3-21.
Right: Antique Chinese beaded tobacco pouch
inscribed
"ru yi” or
“as you wish.” European and Chinese glass beads, leather, cotton.
Photo: Copyright Valerie Hector.
"Chinese Beaded Tobacco Pouches, ca. 1875-1925”
by Valerie Hector
A brief introduction to a minor genre of Chinese textile art, this article describes two tobacco bags netted with Chinese glass beads and four embroidered with European glass beads.
In Bead Forum 81 (Autumn 2022), p.9-20.
Left: Cover of Joyce J. Scott Messages. Courtesy, Mobilia Gallery.
"Paradigm Shifts in Peyote Stitch: Joyce J. Scott as an Agent of Change”
by Valerie Hector
American artist Joyce J. Scott has revolutionized “peyote stitch,” a bead-netting technique possibly originating with the ancient Egyptians of the mid-to-late-3rd millennium BC. “Paradigm Shifts in Peyote Stitch: Joyce Scott as an Agent of Change” is one of five essays featured in Joyce J. Scott Messages, an exhibition catalog curated by Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, MA and published by Arnoldsche Art Publishers (Stuttgart, 2022). The catalog accompanies a traveling exhibition of Scott’s work organized by Mobilia which opens at the Iowa State University Museum in January, 2023 and concludes at the Crocker Art Museum in San Francisco in June of 2024.
"A Beaded Hair Comb of the Early Ming Dynasty”
by Valerie Hector
Perhaps the first piece of mainland Chinese beadwork to be subjected to scientific testing, this hair comb is embellished with Chinese-made glass beads united in a Chinese beading technique dating to the late 13th century or before.
In Beads: The Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 33 (2021), pp. 27-33.
"Beaded Baby Carrier Panel”
by Valerie Hector
In “Feature: Textiles of Indonesia.” Hali 209 (Autumn, 2021), p. 122.
“Tampan Maju in the Thomas Murray Collection”
by Valerie Hector.
In Indonesian Textiles: The Thomas Murray Collection. Prestel, 2021, pp. 110-115.
(Available in Hardcover Only - No Excerpts Available Online)
“Indonesian Beadwork in the Thomas Murray Collection”
by Valerie Hector
In Indonesian Textiles: The Thomas Murray Collection. Prestel, 2021, pp. 506-513.
(Available in Hardcover Only - No Excerpts Available Online)
“Beaded Shop Signs in Republican Beijing (1912-1949)”
by Valerie Hector
Bead Forum 72 (Spring, 2018), pp. 1-4.
Review of Marsha C. Bol, The Art and Tradition of Beadwork,
by Valerie Hector
Beads: The Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers Vol. 30 (2018), pp. 78-80.
“Mainland Chinese Export Beadwork”
by Valerie Hector
Beads: The Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers Vol. 29 (2017), pp. 59-75.
“Bead Netting and Plaiting Techniques in the Peranakan World”
by Valerie Hector
Beads: The Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers Vol. 28 (2016), pp. 66-91.
Craftspeople in their own words
Edited by David Bacharach, Valerie Hector, Ken Girardini, and Susan Levi-Goerlich. Cokeysville, MD: Craft Community Press, 2016.
Review of Beads from germany: Idar-oberstein, lauscha, neugablonze
by Valerie Hector
Beads: The Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers Vol. 28, 2016.
“Chinese Bead Curtains, Past and Present”
by Valerie Hector
Beads: The Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers Vol. 25 (2013), pp. 40-71.
“Twentieth Century Chinese Glass Bead Curtains”
by Valerie Hector
In Borneo Bead Conference Journal. Kuching, Sarawak, 2013, pp. 79-100.
Review of Zhu Xiaoli, Zhongguo gudai zhuzi (Chinese Ancient Beads )
by Valerie Hector
Beads: The Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers Vol. 25 (2013), pp. 101-104.
The Art of Beadwork: Historic Inspiration, Contemporary Design
by Valerie Hector
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 2005.
“The Maturing of a Medium: Contemporary Beadwork in Europe and North America”
by Valerie Hector
Surface Design Journal 2(3) [2004], pp. 6-11.
“Prosperity, Reverence and Protection: an Introduction to Asian Beadwork”
by Valerie Hector
Beads: The Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers 7 (1995), pp. 3-36.
Publications About Valerie Hector
2012
Style Makers and Makers of Style. American Craft, Sept/Oct., pp. 79-85.
One of a Kind: Independent Designers are Making their Mark in the World of Jewelry Making, by Tammy Lytle for USA Today. American Life: Women’s Health, Spring/Summer, p. 67-68.
2009
The History of Beads from 100,000 B.C. to the Present, by Lois Sherr Dubin. Second revised edition. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2009.
Craft Picks: The American Craft Exposition Celebrates 25 Years of Uniting Collectors with the Creations They Covet, by Abigail Foerstner. North Shore 32 (8), pp. 5, 99-101.
These Hands Tell a Story: 25 Years of Handcrafted Art. Evanston, IL: The Auxiliary of NorthShore University HealthSystem at Evanston and Glenbrook Hospitals.
2008
Masters: Beadweaving, Major Works by Leading Artists, by Carol Wilcox Wells. Ed. by Ray Hemachandra. Asheville: Lark Books, Inc..
The Art of the Bead: Four Unique Approaches to Beadwork, by Gerry Davies and Tina Wojtkielo Snyder, in MJSA Journal 3 (9)pp. 28-36.
2007
An Interview with Valerie Hector, by Michelle Mach. www.beadingdaily.com July 24, 2007.
2006
Bead Artist, Bead Scholar: Valerie Hector Balances the Demands of Two Callings, by Pam O’Connor, in Bead & Button, August, pp. 110-114.
2005
500 Beaded Objects: New Dimensions in Contemporary Beadwork, by Carol Wilcox Wells. Asheville: Lark Books, Inc.
2001
Valerie Hector, by Deborah Krupenia. American Craft 61 (2), April/May, pp. 62 ff.
2000
The Smithsonian Craft Show 2000, by Diane M. Bolz. Smithsonian 31 (2), pp. 6, 91.
1999
East Meets West, by Jan Shepherd, The Boston Globe Magazine, Nov. 28, p. 56.
The Very Fiber of Her Being,” by Lynda McDaniel. Lapidary Journal 53 (3), p. 26 ff.
1994
1994 Exhibition in Print. Metalsmith (cover).
1992
The Year of the American Craft, 1993. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
The New Beadwork, by Kathlyn Moss and Alice Scherer. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
