SAN FRANCISCO, July 6, 2023 – San Francisco Public Library presents Translations from Here, an exhibition of intricate, textural glass bead art by poet laureate emerita Kim Shuck (Indigenous/Euro-American). Free and open to the public, the exhibition is on view July 22 through September 10 at San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street, 6th floor. 

Shuck doesn’t know when she started making textile art. She has early memories of stitching with maroon thread onto a kitchen towel as a gift for her mom and absorbing the colors, styles and stories of the various regalia worn at Pow Wows. Those first experiences led her to an obsession with thread and fibersandto a Master of Fine Arts with a concentration in textiles from San Francisco State University. She has been creating stories in thread for more than five decades.  

The works in Translations from Here feature images and themes drawn from both old stories and urban encounters. According to Shuck, if one listens carefully, the works have stories to tell about her Cherokee/Polish identity, the City of San Francisco, past and present and about the construction of stories themselves, written in glass and thread. The images on view include a moody silhouette of Sutro Tower against the sky with the last streaks of sunset-colored clouds, a menagerie of animals, some mounted on found sticks resembling puppets, and book covers featuring her designs. 

"If you think about how a pine cone feels in your hand, and then make that texture part of a story about  who you are and where you live, that's what my beadwork is about," says Shuck. 

To celebrate the opening, Shuck invites the public to a poetry reading and exhibition viewing on August 3, 5:30–7 p.m. at San Francisco Main Library, 6th floor.

EXHIBITION DETAILS
Translations from Here
July 22 – September 10, 2023
Opening Event & Poetry Reading, August 3, 5:30 p.m.
San Francisco Main Library
100 Larkin Street, 6th Floor
Free I Information at sfpl.org