Worcester City Museum & Art Gallery have a small selection of Native American items. I was lucky enough to see them in storage when I was writing my dissertation. It was strange to be writing about North America in rural Worcestershire but looking closely at the bead work and imagining the beading in The Antelope Wife helped me to get closer to my subject matter. Recently the museum thought it would be interesting to get them out of storage and make a display of them, with some taxidermy animals; red fox, porcupine and skunk. They invited me to do a workshop that would use Native American stories to inspire poetry and artwork. It was a beautiful day, summer solstice with hot sun glinting through the windows. The group of people came up with some wonderful ideas that translated into vivid written images and some stunning artwork.
Ruth Stacey 