A Necklace Of Cultures -- Seattle Artist's Works Link African, American Identities

Her journey began at the old J.C. Penney department store, when it was still downtown in the late 1960s.

Afua was looking for earrings with an African flair. She wasn't quite sure what they would look like, but she would know when she saw them.

She did not see the earrings she sought. An African flair was a rare find at jewelry counters in major department stores in 1960s Seattle. She decided to make them - again, not knowing what they would look like, just that she would know them when she saw them, in her mind's eye.

So she did, and Afua Wokoma-Okereke (who as an artist goes by her first name only) has been making jewelry ever since.

Afua's original search for earrings has led to Africa and Brazil, to research libraries nationwide, and last month, to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

One of her necklaces was selected for a traveling exhibit titled, "Uncommon Beauty in Common Objects: The Legacy of African American Craft Art," which ends its run at the Smithsonian's Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art June 18.

The exhibit began at the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce, Ohio, in 1993, in recognition of the Year of American Craft. The necklace, titled, "Ancestral Spirit," also was part of a 1992 Bellevue Art Museum exhibit, "Of Magic, Power & Memory: Contemporary International Jewelry."

Traditionally throughout Africa, art and purpose were entwined in "common objects," for utilitarian and religious means. The "uncommon beauty" of Afua's necklace emanates from the symbolism garnered from her research of the Dogon culture: the red tubular beads represent the eyes of the Nommo, the ancestors of the Dogon people of Mali, West Africa; the horizontal brass bar and vertical bead strands in clusters of eight are of Dogon religious significance; the coins represent colonial influences.

As her craft evolved, Afua discovered that what she had sought nearly 30 years ago was more than a pair of earrings. They had embodied a yearning for a connection with the history and people of Africa. The earrings she craved were links missing in her education - spiritual and historic links she now forges herself, with each cowry shell or Fulani wedding bead she strings. The jewelry she creates links her African and American identities.

Afua is tall, with an intense, yet calming composure. She wears her African dress - a royal blue embroidered tunic and long skirt - regally. On this particular day she has braided amber beads and brass rings into her hair, and tucked in a copper hair ornament, dangling amber beads, cowry shells and copper amulets.

Her deep brown eyes flash and her speech quickens as she talks about African traditions.

"I have become fascinated with the research," Afua said. "I want to make sure that all the pieces I create maintain the integrity and, from an African perspective, are culturally correct."

Education has become a natural progression from her art and research. She participates in the education of her four children in Seattle Public Schools. Afua also is a frequent guest lecturer in classes from elementary to university level. She plans a lecture on the connections between African societal traditions and jewelry at the Pratt Fine Arts Center (328-2200) next fall, and may teach a course at Pratt next winter.

"The history always fascinates them, the fact that African people have achieved numerous things that were unknown," Afua said about her students of all ages. "But it isn't that they were unknown. It is that they are not discussed."

------------ JEWELRY SHOW ------------

Afua has scheduled a jewelry trunk show from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 24 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 25 at Hands of the World in the Pike Place Market lower level, down the ramp at the foot of Pine Street.