Bec Scrivener

Rebecca Scrivener explores conventional forms of both decorative and functional objects which have been long-established in Native American culture, experimenting with traditional Native American techniques and materials. Her recent work is the result of an on-going correspondence with Walter D ‘Red Hawk’ Brown III, the elected Chief of the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) Indian Tribe of Southampton County, Virginia, USA, which has expanded to include phone calls, postcards, letters and gifts. This contact has prompted a variety of works influenced by a distant dialogue, the essence of which is evident here. The knowledge Chief Red Hawk imparts gives an indisputable authenticity to the work, the more recent examples of which incorporate gifts given by the Chief into tangible pieces of art, thus creating a reimagined physical manifestation of their correspondence. A precious gift of ‘long leaf pine needles’ obtained from the Nottoway reservation tribal land has, for example, been transformed into handmade paper. representing  the continuing discourse between cultures.