Beadwork is the focal point at the arrivals area of the Federal Inspection Services facility (FIS) of George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Each architectural column in the area has been transformed into colorful beads within the radial design of the space, providing color within the softer palate of the area. While most generally consider beads as adornment, they have also been used throughout the world to express social circumstance, political history, economic structure and religious beliefs. Beads have been enlisted as symbolic repositories of sacred knowledge; they have been thought to have curative powers; they have been used in barter or as standard monetary units; they have been traded from culture to culture and have traveled across continents and oceans.

Beadwork by Jim Hirschfield and Sonya Ishii

Because they are used by so many contemporary and ancient cultures, beads often mirror the sociological, psychological, economic, and religious aspects of a society’s technical skill. There are certain universal features of beads and the handling of beads that cut across cultural differences.

About the Artists 

Jim Hirschfield and Sonya Ishii have been collaborating on public artworks for the past 15 years. As individual artists working together they not only find their work and ideas complementary, they also find the process of collaboration an energizing one.

They believe the collaborative process is a dynamic one where individuals, working together, push the breadth and range of artistic possibilities. They have both worked on a number and variety of projects ranging from public art plans to design team collaborations. Together they have received over 35 public art commissions from Anchorage, Alaska to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and from Providence, Rhode Island to Phoenix, Arizona.