Spotlight on Samuel Thomas

The impact of an artist’s vision can reach beyond one’s local community, town or country. With the right kind of support, an artist’s idea can travel far. 

For Iroquois beading artist Samuel Thomas, his journey began in 2003 when he received an OAC grant to undertake the Great Tree of Peace Project, a collaboration with communities to create a six-foot-tall beaded tree of peace – a visual representation of cross-cultural peace and unity.  

Over his 27-year career, Thomas has worked to revive and preserve Iroquois beading traditions. His craft has taken him from his nativeBrantford to many places in North America. 

During a chance encounter at a United Nations exhibit where his pieces were on display, Thomas met Kenyan visitors who were particularly interested in his work.   

Several emails later, Thomas learned that a Kenyan beading technique closely resembled Iroquois bead winding – a traditional form of bead embroidery that nearly disappeared more than a hundred years ago. This coincidence was all the more surprising because of the lack of historical contact between the early Iroquois and East Africans. 

Intrigued, Thomas took his Great Tree of Peace Project to Kenya , where he worked with the Ogiek, Samburu, Mau, Akamba, Okeirie and Masai peoples. He learned their beading techniques, conducted workshops and helped document their heritage. 

Thomas’ work in Kenya directed him to Munuve Mutisya, curator and founder of the Akamba Peace Museum , an organization that works to preserve and promote African cultural, spiritual and artistic customs. The main theme in Mutisya’s work is the promotion of peace through the arts and like Thomas, his work centres on peace trees.  

The commonalities in their work led Thomas and Mutisya to combine efforts. Since 2004, they have been active in various East African communities to help preserve indigenous artistic customs. They also have plans to build a cultural centre and a community well later this year. They recently toured several North American cities to share their work with the public. 

What helped Thomas and his Kenyan colleagues overcome linguistic and cultural differences was the mutual value they held for their artistic heritage. They shared their art forms with one another, and in the interim, learned that cultivating arts and culture is essential in order to sustain people. 

“That’s the power of art, the power of creativity,” Thomas explains. 

Thomas also cites the support he received from various funders as a key element in the evolution of his Great Tree of Peace Project. The support extended beyond financial assistance to include a belief in the importance of his work and a commitment to understanding traditional artistic practices in their cultural context. 

Funding for Thomas’ trip to Africa came from several sources. OAC funded Thomas through the Chalmers Arts Fellowships program, which funds projects that provide unique career opportunities to research, experiment and explore artistic practice and/or realize innovative ideas in a major project.

Photo 1 (top right)
From left, Iroquois beading artist Samuel Thomas and founder of the Akamba Peace Museum, Munuve Mutisya, at the United Nations. (Photo: Veronique Lozano)

Photo 2 (above left)
Participants in one of Samuel Thomas' workshops in Kenya show parts of a beaded branch. (Photo:Dolores Elliott)