The Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art hosts "Claim It" with artist and UNLV alum Noelle Garcia 1 - 5 p.m. Saturday, April 7. The event is free and open to the public.

About the workshop: How do you claim something as your own? Indigenous cultures from the Americas are known for their applications of beads to objects using wax (huichol) or weaving techniques (peyote or brick stitch). The use of beads themselves can be a statement of identity. Although beads have been used in the Americas since pre-Columbian times, commercial industry has afforded us an amazing array of manmade beads in a massive selection of colors. These perfect plastic beads are a reflection of the times we live in and the land we live on.

Participants will learn basic bead weaving skills to cover and personalize an object of their choice. Choose from a variety of patterns and colors to make a design that reflects you. Various bead sizes will be offered to accommodate multiple skill/ age levels.

About the artist: Based in the Chicago metropolitan area, Garcia, '12 MFA Art, uses a range of media to shape a personal response to the complexities of family relationships and Native American identity. Raised in Reno Sparks Indian Colony and other Nevadan reservations, she is an enrolled member of the Klamath tribes. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and institutions across the United States. Garcia has been a fellow of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and the Nevada Arts Council. 

Garcia’s reimagined food and cigarettes in "Plural" bring Native American traditions of beadwork to bear on symbols of pervasive, commonplace cultural change.