Bata Shoe Museum displays rare Arctic footwear in new exhibit

The Bata Shoe Museum has put rare pieces of traditionalArctic footwear on display in a new, semi-permanent exhibition.

The items were collected during field trips funded by the BataShoe Museum Foundation from the 1970s to the '90s to such places asNunavut, Alaska, Greenland, Siberia and Sami regions of northernEurope.

Highlights include an intricately decorated pair of seal-skinboots from Greenland, made for a woman's 25th wedding anniversary,said senior curator Elizabeth Semmelhack.

"They're over-the-knee boots in this brilliant red and reallyare kind of show-stopping."

A pair of Canadian Inuit-made boots feature an elegant polar-beardesign in white seal fur inlaid into grey seal-skin.

An important trend in dealing with indigenous material is to movebeyond the idea of the "anonymous maker," Semmelhack said."Because it was field research work, we know the names of allthe makers, who they made the pieces for and why they were made inthat way."

"Art & Innovation: Traditional Arctic Footwear from the BataShoe Museum Collection" occupies a large second-floor gallery. Itwill remain on display for several years.