Oklahoma Artist Transforms Beads Into Works Of Art

A local artist is bringing memories of her childhood to life using beads.

"I had all these old pieces that I have collected all my life and I did not know what to do with them," said artist Cynthia Marcoux.

Her work is on display at 108 | Contemporary in downtown Tulsa.

It features vintage items that she has spent the last 8 years covering in beads using a technique inspired by 20th-century Huichol art.

"I came across this Native American way of doing beading where they put beeswax on the inside of a bowl and press the beads into it," said Marcoux.

Her favorite piece in the exhibition titled "Cynthia Marcoux: Beaded Memories" is one of old roller skates.

"This is the first one that I did which was rather daunting," said Marcoux. "I do not know why I started with that."

Each piece in the exhibition is a tribute to her childhood. Marcoux said, "I had a really good childhood and I have just always been kind of fixated on my memories of that."

She works in realism making everything from finger lickin' good fried chicken to old lunch pails and Halloween costumes.

"I have really been enjoying seeing people walking around and saying, 'Oh I remember that I had one of those when I was a kid,'" said Marcoux.

Even if no one connected with her art, she would still create. "I heard an actor being interviewed recently and he said that he decided to become a director because he wanted to make the movies that he wanted to see," said Marcoux. "I kind of feel like I made the art show that I wanted to see."

The Beaded Memories exhibition is free and open to the public. The art gallery has even created an I Spy game to go along with it to make the exhibition more fun for kids and a take-home kit to create your own beaded art.

108 | Contemporary is open Wednesday through Sunday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Beaded Memories will be displayed through March 24th.