Upcoming Water All Around Us Show

Alhough I am still behind on finishing my pieces for the 2008 Bead Journal Project I have completed a piece that will be part of the upcoming juried show at the Lawrence Street Gallery in Ferndale, MI. The show will run from November 1 thorough November 3o. The reception for the show will be held on Friday, November 13 from 6 -8 PM.

The show is composed of collaborative pieces of wearable art created by bead makers from Glass Act (the guild of glass bead makers from Southeast Michigan) and designers from the Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild. Below is a photo of the entry submitted by myself and the bead artist I worked with, Cindi. The name of the piece is 'Swimming School'. It consists of fish beads and various diameter round beads made by Cindi as well as Bali siver turtles, seed beads , shell and semi-precious stone chips. It is asymetrical, with one side being three stranded and the other a single strand. The piece is being sold for $390 and the proceeds will be split between the local Gilda's Club and Cindi's son's school band fund.

Works On Display at Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center

The following photos are the submision photos for my original pieces that are currently on display at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center in Birmingham MI. The exhibit is a collection of original works by members of the Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild (BLBG). Pieces in the exhibit include bead embroidery, sculpural pieces, beadweaving and jewelry. The exhibit runs through August 20. The opening reception was held on Friday, July 24th and was attended by the artists and their friends and family. Several of the artists in the exhibit are also participating in the BJP08 project and may have photos from the opening and of their works. Check out their links from the BJP home page.



The piece below is entitled With a Little Help From My Friends. It is the result of a round robin project by the members of my Friday Night beading group the Loomatics. Members are primarly a group a friends from within the GLBG as well as invited guests. The ground rules were that each member started a piece and each month another member of the group worked on a piece of it. The originator of the piece did not see it until all other members had completed work on it. My piece was the result of totally improvised bead embroidery by all members participating in the round robin. Materials include findings, seed beads, Czech pressed glass and sequins. All embroidery was done on a base of Lucy's Stiff Stuff.







The piece below is entitled Winter's Light and was begun in one of Robin Atkin's classes when the GLBG brought her to Michigan during our Bead Daze week. An annual event where the BLBG brings in at least 4 nationally know instructors to teach workshops that are open to both guild members and guests. This piece includes findings, a button, seed beads, bugles and Czech pressed glass and is embroidered on cotton fabric. The piece is entirely custom framed and even includes painted paper created during a workshop with Robin (Books, Beads and Words) at the center previously known as the Coupseville Art Center in Washington.

The piece below is entitled Healing I. It is composed of sequins, seed beads and Czech pressed glass on cotton fabric. It was created while I was recouperating from knee replacement surgery in 2004. It is a companion piece to the mask that follows. This picture was taken prior to it being framed for the exhibit.

The mask below is entitled Healing Mask. Like the following Mardi Gras and Love's Vision masks it is embroidered on a fabric mask form. Again, this photo was taken prior to having the piece framed. The piece consists of seed beads, Czech pressed glass and seed beads.

The piece below is entitled Love's Vision. It is bead embroidery applied to a fabric mask form. Materials used include seed beads and Czech pressed glass beads.

The piece to the left is entitled Mardi Gras Mask and was created as part of a competetion among the Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild. Materials included in this piece are seed beads, sequins and feathers.

April 24

Okay, so it has been a while since I last posted to the site. Yes, I have been working on my pages but I must admit to being a bit behind schedule. I have completed both my Chakra 1 and Chakra 2 pages. I am roughly half finished with page 3. Having now figured out how to download photos from my camera to my computer I can now show off what I have completed.

What have I learned--a 4" x4" piece is alot to finish in a month. Lesson learned--work on a smaller piece. At this point I do not think I will make all 12 pages but I do plan to finish at least the 7.

What else have I been doing--finishing the Round Robin project that several of my fellow Guild members and I had undertaken for 2008. I did also participate in the quilt project for raising funds for breast cancer research and managed to complete 3 squares (those were only 2" x2").

I have read the comments from several followers--and yes I think that working on the pieces is helping my healing to move forward. That and the fact that it has now been 13 months since the second surgery. I am finally feeling much more energetic than I have in years. Looking back it is hard to believe how far I have come in the last 13 months. The healing capacity of our bodies is truly amazing.

Challenges in working on my pieces--staying in such a limited palette for each page is quite interesting in making the pieces have life and movement.

20 September Progress Note

My first journal entry is partially finished. My format for this year is a 4"x4" square, a popular size so I gather fom some of the posts to the main page. I chose this size as it is what for me seems reasonable to complete in a month whether I choose to bead all of the area or only a portion. My theme (or so I think) for the year is a journey through the chakras. I am starting with the root chakra since it seems to be a part of my healing process as I continue to recover from 2 hip surgeries (one 6 months ago and one 11 months ago). Since my recovery is all about stregthening and flexibility of my pelvic muscles and being able to walk in a healthy manner for the first time in my life the issues that have come up for me are related to the root chakra and so it seems appropriate.

Since I am working with the root chakra this month's piece is being worked on a red fabric with red beads. I am also including buttons that include a focal piece that is a carved horn elephant button, the animal associated with the chakra. Red is not one of my favorite colors so this is somewhat challenging to work in this color palette. At this point in time I am not feeling particularly happy with the piece and am stuck as to what to do next with it. I am going to have to push through as I am reading that others are finishing their September entry and beginning their October piece. At least I know that I will do some work on it Friday night coming up when I gather with my other beading friends for our once a month get together.