Charles C. Eldredge Prize Lecture with Megan A. Smetzer
Thursday, March 13, 4 p.m.

Smithsonian American Art Museum
McEvoy Auditorium and YouTube
Free | Registration required

Join art historian Megan A. Smetzer for the Eldredge Prize lecture “Gifts from Their Tlingit Grandmothers: Fashioning Relationships Through Beaded Patterns and Threaded Stories.” She is the 2024 recipient of the Eldredge Prize, which annually recognizes originality and thoroughness of research and excellence in writing, for her book Painful Beauty: Tlingit Women, Beadwork, and the Art of Resilience. Through extensive archival and museum research, Smetzer shows how beaders countered repressive colonial systems and sustained cultural practices through innovative artistic visions deeply connected to the environment, clan histories, and Tlingit worldviews.

Painful Beauty is the first academic monograph that centers contemporary Indigenous community-based knowledge about Tlingit beadwork. Smetzer’s research for the book was supported by many Tlingit artists, scholars, and knowledge keepers. 
  
The lecture will be held in person and online; registration is required.

About Megan A. Smetzer

Smetzer is an instructor of art history at Capilano University in North Vancouver, British Columbia. 

Know Before You Go

In-Person Attendees
The auditorium doors will close ten minutes after the published start time for the program, following introductory remarks. Latecomers arriving after this grace period will be admitted at the discretion of staff.

Virtual Attendees
Online participants must be subscribed to SAAM’s YouTube channel 24 hours in advance to participate in the chat and ask a question that may be answered live by the speaker during the program.

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